Benden Weyr, the First Thirty Years
by AceyK
Summary: Following the events of the short story "The Second Weyr", Torene and M'hall are the newly named Weyrleaders of the just founded Benden Weyr, where a mysterious rider threatens the peace and new beginnings between Benden Weyr and Benden Hold. New traditions for Pern are established and frightening happenings unfold for the untried leaders. New and Canon characters and dragons.
1. Alaranth's Clutching

Chapter 1

BENDEN'S FIRST CLUTCH

Torene came running out of her Weyrwoman's quarters, calling to M'hall.

"What is wrong with Alaranth?! She nearly bit my head off when I wished her good morning!"

M'hall met her on the ledge outside the queen's weyr and watched the golden dragon, wings aspread, drift down towards the Bowl of the Bendan Weyr.

"I do believe your golden dragon is beginning her clutch," M'hall said, kissing Torene on the temple. "We will find out if Uloa was right in making us bring all that extra sand up from the coast to pad the grounds." He then turned his head and his gray blue eyes lost focus while he communed with his big bronze dragon, Brianth.

_Yes, I will come and take you both down to the hatching ground, and yes, you DID lose track of time, as Alaranth is clutching her first egg right now. _He always spoke loud enough in his mind for Torene to hear, too. The big bronze stepped quickly to the ledge and dipped his forearm so his two passengers could easily mount.

"Ungrateful dragon-child," Torene said as she reached up and gripped M'hall's outstretched arm and clambered aboard, "You'd think she was trying to hide her condition like a wild beast!"

M'hall laughed. "Instead of being cossetted and pampered and praised."

Brianth spread his wings and made a graceful leap into the air, but instead of the critical downsweep of wing to send him aloft, he merely lifted his right wing to begin spiraling down to the Bowl, as the caldera of the old volcano was commonly called. As his passengers leapt off, he accompanied them over to the entrance of the hatching ground and lowered his head to observe the proceedings.

Alaranth hissed at him, her head darting toward him from her place across the Hatching Grounds. Brianth's eyes whirled reddish with alarm and he hummed deep in his throat to reassure his mate.

Torene strode across the sands, surprised at the heat she felt coming through the soles of her leather boots. Normally the sands were cool, getting only a few hours of direct sunlight each day. But today, they were quite warm.

Alaranth turned her head towards her rider. Torene ran up and stroked the big triangular shaped head and found the itchy spot above the eye ridge. _Does it hurt, love?_ Torene thought to her dragon.

_No, it is a very odd feeling, but it doesn't hurt_. The golden queen laid her head on her rider's shoulder, and suddenly shuddered a little bit. _OH_. And suddenly there was a second egg on the sands. Alaranth moved a little to the right and shuddered again.

Quite some time later, when Torene became aware of her surroundings again and of the rumbling of her stomach, she realized it was both her and Alaranth's hunger pangs. Looking about the Hatching Grounds, Torene shook her head slowly in amazement. The floor appeared to be covered with various shades of mottled eggs. Deep bronze and brown shades mixed with deep blue, blue green and green shades. And there, in the exact center, a large, beautiful golden egg. Larger than the other eggs, the deeply golden egg lay on its cushion of warm sand, gleaming.

"What a clutch!" M'hall exclaimed as he came up to the pair. He slipped his arm around Torene's waist and reached up to give Alaranth's jaw a good scratching. "How many?"

"Forty-one, if my count is correct," Torene leaned into M'hall. "Quite a feat from quite a flight, if I must say so myself," she quipped. M'hall tightened his arm.

"It was that," he murmured. "The other times weren't so bad either."

"Not bad," Torene allowed, a teasing note in her voice. Then it turned plaintive. "But we're starving! Do we just leave? Or should we put someone on guard? Or..." Her voice trailed off at the incredulous look on M'hall's face.

Torene glanced around and saw that they'd had a small audience. Weyr folk and dragonriders were clustered loosely at the Hatching Ground entrance, giving the queen her privacy, but beaming proudly nonetheless at the great dragon's accomplishment.

"Guard? The most well-known experiment on Pern? The salvation of the planet needing guarding? I should hope not!" M'hall turned with Torene still in his arm. "Let's go get you two beautiful creatures some food

before Alaranth's color fades to dull dun and you expire in my arms," he laughed.

The group at the archway parted and broke up, the kitchen staff preceding the couple to the dining cavern, and the dragon riders back to their tasks. The golden queen emerged into the sunlight and Torene, glancing back, saw that the queen was, indeed, off color, though not drastically so.

As Torene sat down, she heard a squeal from her golden queen, the death squawk of a wherry from the hunting grounds and felt immediately less faint as her dragon fed. Odd, how that linking worked, Torene mused. She could hear her dragon, feel what her dragon felt, and was impacted by things that happened to her dragon, such as now, when Alaranth fed, Torene's feelings of hunger lessened so she didn't feel so lightheaded.

Torene also heard all the other dragons, which she initially thought to be a normal fact with everyone. But found out that she was the _only _person who could hear everyone else's dragon. Sorka had been able to for a short while, but as Faranth grew, it seemed that Sorka's link with Faranth grew stronger and the other dragons' voices faded.

That fact was brought home to her unexpectedly the first time she fought the planetary menace, Thread. The Queens' Wing was awaiting the signal from Faranth and Sorka to rise out of the bowl with their flamethrower packs. Carenath and Sean voiced their command to rise and Torene asked Alaranth to rise, also. But the Queens' Wing was waiting for the other dragons to clear the Bowl before rising. Torene shamefacedly asked Alaranth to resettle to the ground. She admitted to Sean and Sorka after Threadfall that she could hear every dragon. Sean and Sorka asked Torene to keep this bit of information to herself until such time that it would be crucial for her to be able to communicate with everyone.

That crucial time came when Torene and Alaranth moved to Bendan Weyr and being able to communicate with Fort Weyr, half a world away, was a great asset. Hearing others' dragons all the time got confusing and a little unnerving at times, but Alaranth helped her mentally shield the bulk of those conversations to help

preserve Torene's peace of mind. When fighting Thread, the two of them were invaluable communication links between the upper ranks of fighting dragons and the lower ranks of queen dragons carrying flamethrower tanks and sometimes just from one dragon to another for avoiding tangles of Thread. Torene figured that if any emergency should arise, her ability to communicate instantaneously with all dragons would be extremely useful.

Torene turned her attention to the savory soup and freshly baked bread that Julie's staff had set down in front of her. "Here, eat, Torene, you look pale," the young woman said and set a cup of klah next to the bowl, "We have croissants, too, with a cream filling that Julie is trying out-it's pretty heavenly." Smiling up at the girl, Torene tucked into her soup.

4


	2. Meeting with Fort Weyrleaders

Chapter 2

A MEETING WITH THE FORT WEYRLEADERS

Breakfast was out of the way and the day was gorgeous. No Thread fell anywhere on Pern that day and everyone was outside doing chores that were normally done inside, just because it was a gorgeous day and no Thread was falling. The Fort Weyrleader had just finished up a conference with his Wingleaders and Wingseconds about some adjustments to their schedule and met up with his wife in their quarters tidying up a bit after their youngest daughter before taking her down to the Lower Caverns to be with the other children of the Weyr for lessons.

"Did Alaranth say what Torene and M'hall were coming to talk about?" Sean queried Sorka as they descended the stone stairs together, holding the toddling, giggling little girl between them.

"No, but I've got a vague idea," Sorka said as they dropped their daughter off with her siblings in the main play area of the caverns.

Faranth bugled a welcome, seconded moments later by Carenath's brassy call.

"Well, we will find out for sure now, won't we," Sorka said, grinning as she watched the two dragons descend outside into the bowl of the old volcano they called home. The two riders disembarked nimbly from the gold and bronze dragons. The two dragons waited until the pair had stepped back and turned away before springing up and alighting on the Weyr heights to enjoy the sun and await their weyrmates.

The two young people strode into the huge cavern that made up the open area of the mountain fortress. Both had grown up here in increasingly cramped quarters until Sean had released the bulk of the dragons and riders to the new Weyrs. Benden to the far east, Big Island to the south and Telgar to the Northwest. They hesitated a moment as their eyes adjusted to the dimmer light of the cavern, and changed directions to meet their hosts mid floor. The two men reached out and clasped right forearms while the women leaned in for a closer embrace.

"It's good to see you."

"You're looking marvelous," the two women said simultaneously. They laughed.

The older Weyrleaders pivoted, and drawing their guests to the table, sat them down and offered them klah and sweetcakes.

"How is everything at Benden?" Sean asked, leaning back in his chair and stretching his legs out

before him. "No problems with those forty-one eggs hardening properly on those nice sands, right?"

Both young people shook their heads. Then Torene leaned forward, hands wrapped around her cup.

"We're coming up short on candidates, though, and were hoping we could Search Telgar, here, and maybe some of the lesser holds." She threw it all out in a rush. Then sat back and took a deep breath, glancing at M'hall. But he was looking at his father with a crooked smile on his face.

Sorka and Sean looked at each other and chuckled. "We were so free with everything else-cutting loose of all you young people to form three new Weyrs, we forgot to mention, 'Search wherever necessary.' Of course you Search here, too. Search all of Pern, if necessary, to find candidates! We have candidates aplenty for our batch of eggs hardening. And Faranth isn't due to rise for at least several more months," Sean said. Sorka, beside him, was just gently nodding in agreement.

"We'll send out our Search teams first thing tomorrow then," M'hall said, "All holds and the two Weyrs."

"And don't let F'mar give you any nonsense about needing candidates for Telgar. None of his queens will be rising until much later this year and he's got loads of youngsters coming up that will be too young for your needs," Sean said to the younger couple, shaking his head at the northernmost Weyrleader's habit of being somewhat overbearing.

Sorka leaned out and put a hand on one of each of the young couple's hands.

"You two are looking exceptionally happy together," she said. "Was the flight as glorious for you two as we know it was for your dragons?"

Torene blushed prettily and tipped her head towards her rising left shoulder. M'hall flushed and ducked his head. Jays! These were his parents! He'd never talked about sex with his parents, at least not THAT way! "It was...absolutely amazing," Torene said, raising her chin a bit, "You didn't exaggerate one bit, Sorka. It was astonishing."

M'hall wrapped an arm around Torene's waist, nodding, mute for once.

"I do believe that this the first time I have ever known my son to be speechless!" Sean crowed, to the disgust of his son. "They'll be writing songs about Torene and M'hall's stupendous mating flight!"

"Sean!" Sorka swatted at her husband's knee but was pleased none-the-less that her son seemed genuinely attached to this lovely girl whom she already liked. She had despaired of her son settling down, him with his penchant for 'catching queens' and willing to bed both holder and dragonrider alike.

"Just like our Weyrleaders' flights before us, it has bound us together," the younger man said, looking over at his dad with pride and love in his eyes. "I have been waiting for Torene since she was eight years old. Do you remember the time you took me with you to Telgar Hold to see Tarvi Telgar about some gold to make Mother's locket? I was outside, up on the wall talking to some of the hold youngsters and Torene came right up to Carenath sunning on the ledge near us and stroked his eye ridge. I was totally smitten with her red gold curls - she wore it long in those days, you know - and she looked right through me. She was so enthralled with Carenath that I don't think she even saw me."

Torene dipped her head. "I remember you, but you didn't seem all that interested. You seemed more interested in Cara Telgar," she teased. She remembered that day. It had been the pinnacle of her days, being so close to Carenath, scratching the big bronze dragon and listening with awe as he greeted her and she could hear him. It had been the best day ever, until she got Searched by Carenath himself and brought into the Weyr to stand on the Hatching Ground. Then her pinnacle became Amaranth.

_I should think so!_ Her dragon snorted from the ledge outside.

"And just like our Weyrleaders, we are making it binding," M'hall said, "We'd like to invite you to our nuptials."

Sorka nearly leaped over the table, "When?! Where will it be? At Benden, I hope! Your folks will attend, right, Torene?" Sorka was almost beside herself with joy. Her boy, her wild man-child, was settling down just as they had hoped. And with such an intelligent,

beautiful woman as Torene Ostrovsky. She was thrilled beyond measure.

"Yes," Torene said, "We're planning on next month before the Hatching and we may be giving you more good news at that time." Torene quirked an eyebrow and smiled mysteriously.

"We're doing what the people of Earth used to do," M'hall said with a distant look in his eyes, "We're having a 'wedding'. We're inviting all our friends to attend. We wanted more than just going to Admin and having it registered. We want to shout it from the rooftops! So, we're having a party."

His mother looked at him with love and affection. This was new to her, a loving, caring man who was totally entranced with the woman at his side.

4


	3. The First Search

Chapter 3

The First Search

(there are colloquialisms in this chapter, just be aware)

The three dragons, bronze Derwenth, brown Jenoth and green Magath popped out from _between_ wing tip to wing tip in perfect formation. The three riders grinned at each other. They were great friends and enjoyed this diversion from Thread fighting. Somehow, between the three dragons, they found the best candidates for their Weyr. There seemed to be a resonance that the dragons picked up from the likely candidates and communicated to their riders. It had happened like that when they had been weyred at Fort, and because they were all in the same fighting Wing, they had moved to Benden with Jess, their Wingleader.

This was their first Search for Benden and they were extremely excited. Forty-one eggs! And one a golden queen egg!

As if thinking of this as they hovered, R'bert cried out "Shards! That'll be well over a hundred candidates we'll need to be finding." The other riders nodded, and then looked down to find a suitable place to land.

They were at a small farm not a day's ride by horse from Fort Hold. The place had a barn made of stone and pasturage for the farm animals, and the animals were milling a bit as the shadows of the dragons landed on them. They moved off to the other side of the hold where the road past the dwelling widened out a bit. L'ren pointed. The others nodded and each descended to land in the clearing, out of sight of the pasture. They looked around at the trees, the pastures and were amazed.

"Looks like Thread never falls here!" L'ren exclaimed. The others nodded; eyes wide with amazement.

"Mighty nice of youz to do dat, dragonriders," a gruff but friendly voice said from the trees. The three riders turned around and looked where the voice had come from, and a small wizened man came out from the trees carrying an ax at his side.

L'ren bowed in the elderly man's direction and said, "We have no wish to alarm your stock." He straightened up and watched as three comely young women and two strapping, handsome young men followed the old man out into the open.

The three dragons began to hum quietly in their throats. R'bert and Beralas grinned winningly at the approaching group.

"M'name's Anwell, "the grizzle-haired, stoop-shouldered elder said, "and dees are my chilren." The three dragon riders glanced at each other in amazement. 'How could such a grizzled little old man be the father of these glorious young people?' Berelas whispered in an aside to R'bert.

"Yer prob'ly wonderin' how an ol' geezer like m'self sired such comely young'uns," he smiled, showing grayish, yellowing teeth, where there were teeth. "T'wern't me. T'was der mama who gave 'em such looks. They got their strent from me." He turned toward the dwelling and hollered, "Mama! Mama! Come greet dees dragon folk!"

The door opened quietly and an astonishingly tall, beautiful woman stepped through the door, ducking her head in order to pass through. When she straightened, she stood over six feet tall. With glorious, pale golden curly hair rioting down over her shoulders. Her smile was the most beautiful smile the dragonriders had ever seen. It was so warm and welcoming. Her pale brown eyes on her tanned smooth face were equally so.

"Welcome to our home," she said, her voice a rich contralto. She stepped over to her husband and put an arm on his shoulder, which reached just to her elbow.

There must have been at least a foot in length disparity in their heights and a good twenty years between their ages-if looks had anything to do with it. But the warmth emanating from the pair was amazing.

"We are on Search for candidates for the dragon eggs hardening at Benden Weyr," L'ren said, giving a bow to the woman, "There are 40 eggs, plus one queen egg! This will be Benden's first Hatching!"

"And I do believe you have found your candidate," the woman said, nodding toward the dragons. The riders turned to look. The younger, shorter of the two sons was amid the dragons, scratching Magath under the jaw with one hand and stroking Derwenth's eyeridge with the other. A contented look possessed all three dragons.

"Jerrak," Anwell said, "You show dem dragons where dey can get a drink from the stream." The lad nodded and turned to go up the lane toward the

stream just seen at the bend in the road. The dragons hesitated a moment, communing with their riders, then lumbered awkwardly off after the young man.

Dragons look odd when they walk. Since their forelegs were much shorter than their hind legs, they had to crouch to walk on all fours. Some dragons forbore to walk crouched over and used their outstretched wings to balance themselves on their hind legs, while others used a 'hop-skip' gait and dropped to their forequarters every few steps. Either way, the land-bound dragon looked ungainly.

"Bin 'beast-mad' all his born days," the old man said with a slow shake of his head. "Savin' critters, nursin' critters, befriendin' critters," his voice trailed off. He was smiling benignly and gazing after his son.

"Derwenth says he can hear Jerrak quite clearly," L'ren said to the group, "Most auspicious!"

"Magath says she, too, can hear Jerrak," Beralas reported.

"And I am getting good reports about his sister from Jenoth," R'bert said.

The sister in question had followed her brother and the three dragons to the bend. The dragonriders watched as the girl walked fearlessly up to the big brown dragon to ease an itch on his shoulder.

_She_ heard _me tell Magath to dig at my itch and she took care of it_, Jenoth thought wonderingly to his rider.

The three riders looked at the family then each other. They had never felt such a strong feeling on Search, let alone two in the same family.

"We would like your permission to return in four weeks' time and get both young people," L'ren said. R'bert took out a notepad and wrote down the name of the hold and Jerrak's name.

"Her name is Darian Anwell," her mother said, noticing R'bert pause in his writing, and divining the reason. R'bert smiled and gave a quick nod, then scribbled down the girl's name.

"I am pleased to know that at least two of my many, many children will be dragonriders," Mrs. Anwell said. She tilted her head to the opposite side of the road. "You have only seen five of our children," she told the dragonriders, and they turned back to her with mouths agape.

Out of the surrounding fields and from the hold several other young people had appeared. Ranging from around 5 years on up, every single young person was as beautiful as their siblings and mother. Some seemed to be taking on her height, while most were more average, but all were either willowy, beautiful, graceful girls or strong, strapping, handsome lads.

When all were assembled, the couple had fifteen children, and among the fifteen there two sets of twins and one set of triplets.

"Welp, while we're a jawin' about young'uns, let's thow somet'in else out dere. Yo mama is preggers agin and will be havin' anudder baby come spring." The old man puffed up proudly and his wife smiled down at him, love radiating from her. This announcement threw the whole group into a torrent of talking and hugging and bouncing up and down.

The three dragonriders hastened to add their stunned congratulations to that of the children's. The dragons bugled from down the road, muting their joyous warble to avoid frightening the livestock, and started the short trek back up to those gathered in the road.

As the dragons drew near, their humming grew louder and the dragonriders had to concentrate to hear what their dragons were discussing.

"Um, Mrs. Anwell," L'ren began.

"Please call me Sherilayn," the beautiful woman turned toward the bronze rider with a warm smile.

"Sherilayn, it would appear that there are two other possible candidates," L'ren said wonderingly.

"Oh, lovely!" Sherilayn exclaimed, clasping her hands in front of her.

The dragons went among the young people to stand before a young girl of about fourteen years and her identical twin. Almost at the same moment, the two girls reached out to touch the smooth warm skin of the dragons standing before them.

"Tawny and Tonya" their father said, beaming. The girls were graceful and athletic looking with pert, pretty faces and beautiful clear blue eyes.

"Outstanding!" R'bert said as he added the girls' names to his roster.

"We would love to offer you some juice and cakes," Sherilayn said, leading the way toward the dwelling.

"Thank you," said R'bert, "That would be great. Breakfast was a while ago, and I have need of some juice." He glanced at L'ren and Beralas, who nodded.

Sherilayn opened the metal door to the dwelling, which was a cave carved into the hillside and the three dragonriders stepped into a huge, yet homey main living area. Colorful rugs were scattered about and the furniture was a mixture of brightly colored molded siliplas chairs and rustic wooden tables and arm chairs.

Against the far cave wall, a cot had been set up and totally covered with hides and colorful pillows. There was a huge cloudy gold, black and white pelt on the floor in front of the cot and several comfy chairs facing the cot showed that this area was where the family gathered for leisure.

A two-sided fireplace served the kitchen and the living area, and colorful pillows covered the chairs and were scattered about near the elevated hearth.

In the kitchen area, one end of the table was covered with small cakes of all shapes and sizes and the smell was amazing. Above the hearth was another opening from which Sherilayn took more cakes using a flat metal plate attached to a long wooden handle.

"I love the colors!" Beralas exclaimed. "And are these chairs from the shuttles that brought us here to Pern?" she asked excitedly.

"Wal, yessum. I ast Lili ifen I cud...rekweezition dem from Stores when we fust moved from Landing" Mr. Anwell said.

"Lili? Joel Lilienkamp?" L'ren interrupted excitedly. "You know Joel Lilienkamp?"

"Wal, yessum, I do, youn' dragonrider. Worked wid 'im fer years at Landing, and he tol' us 'bout dis lil place after Sallah and Tarvi 'scovered it. Said it'd be plum perfect fer me 'n Sheri 'n our growin' brood. And 'twas, 'twas. Sheri here's da reason we gots so much woods here. She's a 'botany girl' and worked with dat der Tubberman feller who caused so much trouble shootin' off the homin' capsule back in 'ot nine'."

The elderly man paused for breath and the dragonriders glanced at each other in amazement. What a history lesson they were getting! Joel Lilienkamp was a legend among the Pernese as a great barterer and organizer who had a tremendous sense of humor when humor had been in short supply during the first few years of Thread. He had been unanimously voted in to administering Fort Hold after Admiral Paul Benden had stepped down. And beyond that, Joel Lilienkamp was L'ren's great uncle, and a favorite relative who loved to expound about the 'good old days'.

Anwell took up his story again. "Ted Tubberman give Sheri some of dem 'grubs' as he called 'em, to try on our place in the south and dey wuz working jist fine, so when we 'cided to move up chere, we brung a whole mess o' doze grubs wid us, an' dey taken off jist as well here as dere."

"That's why your woods are so gorgeous?" Beralas asked. "The grubs actually work?"

Sherilayn laughed gently. "Yes! The grubs took to the soil there and propagated wildly. When we first heard about Thread, Daddy wanted to move before it came again." Sherilayn brushed a crumb from her lips and continued her story, "You know, since it was airborne, there really wasn't any way to know if it would only happen the one time. And we have all since found that it has a distinct pattern. Ted's grubs actually protect the trees, bushes and grass against Thread, so we couldn't leave them behind when we knew we would have need of them up here."

"Joel had Tarvi Telgar show us this place after the second fall of Thread, and we spread the grubs we brought with us the same day. By the time we moved a while later, the grubs were getting established and in fact, saved most of our woods every single Fall since we moved. We lost some 100 acres to Thread but they were unplowed fields," Sheri said, then changed the subject, "It took us awhile to get the cave comfortable, but the end results are worth the hard work, don't you think?" Sherilayn spread her hands expansively.

"Would you like to see the rest of the cave system after we eat?"

"Yes, please!" Berelas said quickly, looking at L'ren and R'bert for acknowledgement. They both nodded.

"But first, we eat!" Sherilayn began pulling plates and cups off the shelving and the kids began setting up the table to accept the three guests. They all sat down and started passing pieces of the cakes and pouring sweet fruit juice into the cups and passing them around.

"Mmmm, this is excellent!" Berelas exclaimed.

"Thankye kindly," said Anwell.

"Anwell is from the Deep South of Earth," Sherilayn said, gazing lovingly at the man seated on her right. "Alabama, I believe was the name of the old state before the New Order changed the 50 states into 7 regions. Pity. I lived in the West, but it used to be called Washington. We had the last remaining rain

forest on Earth. It rained nearly every day. And things grew so lushly there. Pern's southern hemisphere, near Landing, called 'Monaco', is similar, but without the daily rain." Sherilayn sighed gustily. "Here I am, missing Earth, when we have such a gorgeous planet here to fill up!"

"And you're doing a great job!" R'bert blurted out as he gazed around him. Then he flushed with embarrassment as he realized what he'd said and lowered his eyes.

Sherilayn and Anwell laughed. "I keep tryin'," the little gray-haired man said, smiling hugely. Sherilayn gazed down at him fondly, "And I keep giving you babies!" A special smile passed between the two.

After the snack, they all got up and toured the cavern system that Anwell, Sherilayn and their family inhabited. There was the main cave with three connecting narrow cave tunnels that opened up into 5 more caves, two of which had outside entrances.

The 'bedroom' caves were inner caves with draperies hanging over the openings hung on rods with the rod holders imbedded into the rock. Each had their own color scheme.

The largest one held 6 beds and was for the younger girls, done up in blues and dark brown blanketing and wall hangings.

The smallest cavern was Sherilayn and Anwell's and was decorated in pale mauve and pale spring green blanketing and wall hangings. The whole place was a warm and lively environment for the fifteen kids and their lovely folks.

"Do you do your own weaving?" Beralas asked, noting interesting pieces of equipment off to one side in the main cavern.

"Yes," Sherilayn said, smiling warmly, "The sheep and alpaca provide the wool and fleece to spin into yarns. We use our own dyes from vegetable sources and from the bark of some of the trees. I also use flax to make linen fabric with the loom that you were looking at." She nodded her head toward the equipment. The loom we brought with us from Earth. Anwell made the spinning wheel for me shortly after we were settled in here."

"That sounds like an ancient art," Beralas said, "Do many know how to use vegetables to make dyes?"

"No, not many anymore," Sherilayn said, quirking an eyebrow. "My children all know, of course, but Lili is concerned that we will lose the art and has asked me to teach anyone who wishes to learn."

"My mother would love to know!" R'bert said enthusiastically, "She is a seamstress and is always lamenting the fact that fabrics are getting so hard to

come by! Leather is in great supply, but good fabrics are nearly nonexistent!"

"Somehow you must get word to your mother to come visit us, or better yet, bring her yourself and anyone else who wants to know," Sherilayn said warmly.

Returning to the main living quarters, L'ren felt they should be getting on with their Search and brought the subject up.

"We, or possibly other dragonriders, will stop back by to pick up the candidates in about four weeks' time," said L'ren, turning to the parents. "At that time, it'll be about two weeks before Hatching, and the candidates will be allowed on the Hatching Ground to grow accustomed to the eggs, and meet our queen, Alaranth. They will also be instructed on what to expect. They will receive ceremonial garments. These are specially made tunics and gowns that help protect the candidates during the initial draconian contact. Sometimes the dragonets fall or become entangled in their own awkward body parts." L'ren paused to smile in reminiscent memory of his Derwenth's hatching.

"On the day of, or possibly the day before the hatching, dragonriders will come and take you, the parents, to the Hatching. I'm sorry, but with as large a family as yours, we couldn't send dragons for everyone," he smiled in apology.

"Thet'd be an amazin' sight!" Anwell hooted, "A half dozen dragons to take all m' kith an' kin to watch th' hatchin'!" He chortled with delight.

"Any questions? No? Then we must be going and thank you so much for your hospitality!" L'ren said, and the three dragonriders took their leave of the immense family and mounted their dragons. The brown and green riders looked to L'ren, who pumped his fist. The three dragons sprang into the air and headed up the track to the next hold. It would be about a 10-minute ride by dragon.

A log was made while on Search, notating landmarks and key Hold features, because the smaller holds were only overflown during Threadfall when there really wasn't adequate time to fix coordinates into consciousness. Later, when the dragonriders came back, teleportation would be used to shorten the time to pick up all the candidates from the various

holds, and these landmark notations would guide them.

"Can you _believe _that family? That is just amazing!" Beralas said as they flew. She was still excited about the success of their first stop. "And Sherilayn is pregnant again!"

"She doesn't look haggard at all," R'bert said wonderingly. "She sure doesn't look like she bore all those children!"

"Yes," L'ren said, "Amazing. Look! Here is our next stop."

11


	4. The Nuptials

Chapter 4

THE NUPTIALS

Torene stepped out of the bathing area and wrapped herself in the warm fluffy towel. Today, of all days, she wished her hair was long, even though she knew from experience that the golden strawberry locks would be a riotous mess.

"Wishing won't change anything," she said softly. She leaned close to the mirror in the bathing room and studied herself critically. Her hair was pretty enough, she allowed. It was an interesting shade of pale, light strawberry with near-white blonde highlights. The golden highlights from being out in the Pern sunshine with her dragon really lightened the color nicely.

Her eyes were gray-green, and where she got those from, with both her parents having brown eyes, was anyone's guess. When she wore green, her eyes were gray. Any other color and her eyes were green. Her perpetual optimism kept her eyes from changing to the hard slate-gray that M'hall's sometimes did. At least, that's what Torene figured.

She paused a moment and thought about her husband-to-be. M'hall was as good a Weyrleader as his father. Sean had taught all his Wingleaders and Wingseconds everything he knew. M'hall was very focused on safety like his father, but not quite the unapproachable martinet that his father could be. M'hall's Wingleaders and Wingseconds swore by him as a compassionate leader. One who was looking out for them and all the other riders fighting Thread.

She had chosen to be a virgin when her golden queen dragon, Alaranth, rose to mate for the first time, so the dragon wouldn't be swayed by any notions from Torene. Her first experience with sex had been the glorious mating flight of Alaranth and Brianth, M'hall's bronze dragon. Since that time, the couple's encounters had been nearly as glorious without the help of their dragons. She felt 'one' with M'hall, and loved him deeply, as she knew he loved her.

Torene resumed the examination of her countenance. Her slightly elongated heart-shaped face was filled with those huge gray-green eyes and their long sooty dark eyelashes that were at odds with her

light hair. Totally giving her a sexy look she seldom felt, except when M'hall was around.

"'Rene?" A voice called from beyond the partition. "I've got your dress and all."

"Just a minute," Torene said hurriedly, pulling on undergarments and robe. She stepped around the drapery to the two women who were waiting there. Brenae, a wonderful seamstress from Fort Hold, stood by the table where she had just carefully laid the dress. She turned and looked over at the other woman, who had gotten up at her entrance and was coming across to greet Brenae.

"Mother," Torene said to the advancing woman, "meet Brenae, who so wonderfully made my dress from that picture I've had for…"

"Years," her mother said, holding out a clean but much calloused hand to Brenae. "I recall seeing it, _bushka_, many times over the years."

Brenae went past the outstretched hand of Sonja Ostrovsky and embraced the startled woman.

"You have a very lovely daughter," Brenae said, easing back from the embrace, "inside and out." Brenae stepped back, catching the sheen of moisture in Sonja's eyes.

"This is what I tell her, but still she shakes her head, still she does not push forward for herself," Sonja said softly.

"All the better," the seamstress said, "Torene doesn't have to say anything. Her beauty shines from within."

Sonja looked at the seamstress, then nodded.

"You are right, I think. Now this dress-you must show me. And we must be getting you ready! Time is fleeing!"

Sonja stepped over to the table and gazed at the beautiful dress. It was a rich brocade fabric with a silk panel all down the front, from the wide square

neckline through the fitted waist to the flared hem. The silk panel color was near midnight blue, while the brocade was lighter with near midnight brocade flowers. It was piped in beautiful subtle gold trim that went up, framed the neckline and on up and over the shoulders to the midpoint of the back and a single trace of gold down to the hem. The little puffs of cap sleeve were of the brocade and then the arms were encased in the midnight blue silk. It looked straight out of a fairy tale, and indeed, Torene had sketched it after reading the tale, _Beauty and the Beast_ from her parents' limited collection of books years before.

"Oh, _bushka_, my darling! Exquisite, this is," Sonja breather, not daring to touch it with her work-roughened hands. "So many people today, so many not treating this day as special! Special it is! Just because Threadfall takes so much toll, is no reason to let special occasions pass without making effort to make special," Sonja was nearly incoherent with joy and her native tongue made it more so.

Torene smiled and hugged her mother. "First, my hair," she said, handing the brush to her mother. "Gotta get these knots out of it. My helmet really crushes and snarls it and I don't always get every knot out." She ducked her head sheepishly.

Her mother shushed her. "Busy you are," Sonja said gently scolding, "with your dragon needing her care and oiling. The Thread fighting and always the safety drills." As she talked, she opened the pack she had brought. She took out a bottle of pale green viscous fluid and a beautiful comb, brush and mirror set. Brenae gasped when she saw the beautiful mother-of-pearl inlaid brush. Sonja handed the brush to the seamstress.

"In my family four generations, these have been. I used them on Torene's four sisters. I use them not on my hair. It is like stalks of wheat, is my hair." She ruffled her own short-cropped dark brown hair and it fell back into place.

She set to work with the fluid, which smelled of chamomile and lavender, pouring some into her hands and then working it into her daughter's hair. Then she took up the comb and slowly worked out the snarls.

"This I have not done for years," she said, "long before, Torene, her hair was long, below waist, but so hard to care for."

"It's a beautiful color," Brenae said, "and the dress certainly shows off your coloring, Torene. But then, you planned it that way, didn't you." This last was more statement than question.

Torene glanced up at the well-proportioned seamstress with an impish grin. "Everyone tells me how beautiful I am. Well, today I am making two statements: 'Yes, I am' and 'I belong to M'hall.' That should stop the bronze riders from any more innuendos! Really! I don't think Sorka had to put up with this and she wasn't much older than I am when Faranth first rose to mate. Maybe because she and Sean were already married. That must be it!"

Brenae laughed out loud. "Torene, I didn't know you had a devious streak!"

"Ya, always the riders wanting my _bushka!_ Is deplorable!" Sonja said, pulling a little too hard.

"Ouch, Mama!" Torene yelped.

"Oh, Reenie, so sorry so sorry! Done! I am done! And the hair is dry," Sonja put down the brush she had finished up with. A mirror came out of the pack and Torene looked at her reflection. She stood and walked quickly to the bathing room to check the back with the hand mirror and the wall mirror.

"Perfect, Mama!" Torene said, her voice carrying out to the two women. Her hair, which was layered to fit under her riding helmet, was a shining nimbus of red gold curls around her head. She turned her head to and fro to check how it lay in the back. Just perfect. She returned to the main room of the Weyrleaders' quarters and watched as her mother pulled one last thing from her pack. A little wreath of fuchsia and blue highland flowers interwoven with tiny white flowers made fresh that morning with her very own hands.

"Oh, Mama!" Torene exclaimed, "How perfect! Beautiful! Thank you so much!" And Torene reached over and hugged her mother tightly.

The two women set to work helping Torene get dressed, and into the matching dark blue soft leather slippers. The wreath was settled into her hair and then Torene lifted her heavy skirt and ran into the bathing room to see how it all looked. She gasped. She _did_ look like Beauty from _Beauty and the Beast!_

Then the two women quickly donned their own special clothes for the occasion and were just finishing up settling their hair and slipping on their shoes when there was a scratching at the partition and Julie came in. Her eyes got big as saucers at the beautiful vision before her.

"Ev..er..everyone is ready for you," she stammered. She was totally stunned. She had never seen Torene look so utterly amazing.

"Great!" Torene, exclaimed, giving the shorter queen rider a swift hug. "Is Daddy outside?"

"Yes."

The three women filed past the other queen rider and none of them witnessed the hurt look that crossed Julie's face, nor the look it morphed into; narrowed calculating eyes and thinned lips that turned down. Julie quickly turned away, and when she turned back, she had schooled her countenance into a forced little smile as she followed the others out of the Weyrleaders' quarters.

They met Volodya Ostrovsky about midway down the stone staircase, which was well lit with a rechargeable string of small lights. He held out his hands to his youngest daughter.

"Ah! Torene, my sweet! My milovanẏ! Such loveliness!" Her father beamed at her and they kissed each other's cheeks.

As Volodya glanced over Torene's shoulder and met Sonja's eyes, both sets filled up with unshed tears. They had tried so hard to be patient with Torene, their last child, not wanting to rush her into a marriage, nor wanting to push her into a career she wasn't suited for, like mining. No, no, too harsh for this beautiful gossamer-winged butterfly they had! And now it was happening. And they were thrilled, yet saddened, too, because they knew Torene's lifework as Weyrwoman at Benden Weyr would leave little time for visits.

Volodya turned and took Torene's arm in his and began slowly pacing across the cavern floor to the open area set aside for large gatherings.

The chairs that had been set up were divided by an aisle and two green riders had led the arriving guests to their seats. There was a nice piece of white carpet material that lined the middle aisle and some of the children of the weyr had littered the white carpet

with wildflower petals. It made for a very nice path for the bride and her father to traverse to reach M'hall.

Volodya gave a slight bow to each of the guests whose eyes he happened to catch. He was so very proud of his lovely daughter on this day.

Cabot Francis Carter, a Supreme Court Justice back on Earth and also on First, had offered to marry them in the tradition of Earth. He had researched the ceremony in his justice books and felt he had a good feel for the ceremony he was about to conduct. He had been flown in the previous night with his wife so they would be well rested for today's festivities. He was still basking in his second dragon ride.

These young people, he thought, these courageous young people have _got_ to be helped into making the best life possible for them since they risked their lives every time they fought Thread. He was glad that he had been on hand to lend his considerable support in setting up the tithing system that was falling into place. It was only fair, he mused. These young people devoted their lives to the welfare of their dragons and ultimately, the people of Pern, that they should benefit from some of the fine fruits they had no time to reap on their own.

He stood, alongside M'hall and watched the Ostrovsky family draw near and greeted them warmly.

Then Volodya presented Torene's hand to M'hall with a flourish and said, "I give you leave to marry and care for my daughter." He looked up at the tall young man before him and saw that special look of awed wonder on M'hall's face and knew his little girl would be safe, and happy. He nodded, turned and kissed his daughter on the cheek and found his seat next to his wife.

Torene turned to M'hall and quirked an eyebrow at his stunned expression. Her dimple showed as she grinned mischievously.

"Speechless. That's good," she quipped.

"Torene," M'hall breathed. "You've always been gorgeous. Today you are all that and stunning, too. And if I didn't already love you to distraction, I'd fall in love with you right here and now."

They stared at each other for a long moment, and then Cabot said, "I couldn't have said it better myself. But I will try!" The entire assemblage chuckled.

"When we left Earth, there were several things we needed to leave behind. War. Famine. Greed. To name a few. But one thing that should never be left behind is the love a man has for a woman and a woman has for her man. This is the very basis of our society. Man and woman. Bound together in love," Cabot Carter said, smiling down at the couple.

"Today we celebrate that bond with the marriage of Michael Dalton Connell and Torene Anabela Ostrovsky!"

Cabot shifted and took Torene's left hand in one of his and M'hall's right hand in his other. He pressed the two hands he held into each other and the couple instinctively intertwined fingers.

"The marriage contract differs from the contract marriages that we implemented when we first landed on Pern," Cabot said, his eyes scanning the guests. "Those were to see to the welfare of the children that arose from encounters. A marriage contract is a lifelong commitment on the part of the man and woman to remain steadfast and true to the partner."

"Within the Weyr," here Cabot hesitated, then forged ahead, "I am given to understand that the Weyrleader's dragon must engage the Weyrwoman's dragon in sexual contact every year or so to remain Weyrleader. Since the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman are standing here before me to be married, I believe that will not be an issue." He chuckled. The participants in the cavern chuckled along with him.

"So, you two," and here he looked sternly at Torene and M'hall, "stay sharp!" His stern expression relaxed into a smile and the guests laughed a bit, then settled back down.

"Michael Dalton Connell, having duly professed your love for this woman, Torene Anabela Ostrovsky, do you take her to be your lawfully wedded wife? To cherish, defend and honor, in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?" Cabot asked, looking directly at M'hall.

"Yes, yes I do," M'hall said clearly, still mesmerized by the vision before him.

"And do you, Torene Anabela Ostrovsky," Cabot said, realizing that the couple were still staring at each other, "Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, love and cherish this man, Weyrleader M'hall, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To defend and honor, in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

"Yes," Torene breathed. "Yes," she said firmly, louder, "oh, yes!" There was a murmur of assent around the audience. She realized that Cabot had added their titles into the ceremony. Something she hadn't known he was going to do. It endeared the man to her. She smiled as she flicked a glance at the distinguished gentleman standing to her left. He smiled quietly back.

"Please present the rings," Cabot said. Two young riders hurried up to the trio standing on the small dais. They each handed off a ring to the appropriate party, then retreated.

"Torene, if you would please put the ring on your beloved's hand," Cabot intoned, then waited patiently while Torene slipped a wide gold band on M'hall's left hand third finger.

"And M'hall, please put the ring on your beloved's hand," Cabot nodded to Torene.

"With these rings, you signify your unity as a couple. And, by the power vested in me by the great citizens of Pern, I now pronounce you husband and wife! M'hall, you may kiss your bride," Cabot stepped back, releasing the young people to kiss.

M'hall took the last step separating them and swept Torene into his arms. The dragons outside trumpeted, the fire-lizards threw themselves into the air in a dizzying display of acrobatics as the audience went wild with cheers and clapping. Their friends and family left their chairs and crowded up to the couple, breaking their embrace, but as Torene stepped back, M'hall kept her hand in his and merely pivoted on the balls of his feet to greet the well-wishers. He got pats on the back and hugs, as did Torene, who also got kisses on the cheek, but through it all, they remained handfast.

As the crowd thinned a bit and the couple could make eye contact with each other, they smiled, leaned in and kissed again.

Their parents and M'hall's grandparents materialized out of the retreating backs of their guests and Torene quirked an eyebrow at M'hall, who gave a slight nod.

"It's been confirmed by Greta.." Torene began.

"You're pregnant!" Sorka broke in, "Oh, yes, oh, yes oh YES!"

"Yes," M'hall said, taking his mother's exuberance in stride and smiling, "we're pregnant."

Volodya and Sonja rushed to Torene and hugged her tightly. Sean leaned over and gripped M'hall's arm with a sly little grin.

Red and Mairi, Sorka's parents, were beaming, full of joy for the couple while the Carters, who had been observing discreetly when the announcement was made, took the two steps that separated them from the families and shook hands all around, smiling hugely and congratulating the couple. Torene's folks patted M'hall awkwardly on the shoulder until he swooped them close in a hug.

"We will _not_ be strangers!" he declared, "What is the use of having teleporting dragons if we cannot use them for some 'R and R'!"

"What means this _arenar_?" Sonja leaned back to look at her new son-in-law's face.

"R and R," M'hall enunciated slowly, "it means rest and relaxation. What everyone needs at least once a week!"

"Yes!" Torene's father agreed fervently, "Rest and relaxation! A restday to relax!"

"That's good!" Red Hanrahan said, "'A restday to relax'. We should make that a law. Cabot, what say you add that to the charter. Every seventh day is a 'restday'. A day to throw off our chores and reacquaint ourselves with some good old-fashioned leisure—barring Threadfall of course," he said, looking at his son-in-law, daughter, grandson and his grandson's new wife.

"Sounds good to me, and I don't think it would take much to get planet-wide acceptance, either," Cabot said, smiling broadly.

"And speaking of leisure, let's make our way leisurely over to the feast our weyrfolks have laid out for us," M'hall said, keeping hold of Torene's hand and giving a gentle tug towards the dining area.

As they neared the tables, René Mallibeau came over and greeted them all, then turned to the young couple.

"It may take several years to produce a fermentable brew with enough flavor to be worth the effort, but I pledge my best to you for your continued and tremendously effective coverage against Thread," René said, and bowed smartly at the waist.

"We look forward to that day!" M'hall said, smiling and taking René's outstretched hand, shook it warmly, "and you must educate my palate on the intricacies of fine wine."

"My pleasure," Rene returned, smiling broadly. He had begun work on the vineyard the previous year, shortly after the dragonriders had helped him and the other families living nearby finish Benden Hold. The rows of vines were all laid out on the south slopes in the perfect mix of soil and shale he himself had mixed. His only problem was finding the right fertilizer. The herd beasts were ruminants and their manure was not rich enough in nutrients. He had tried wherry manure, and although it was good, it wasn't good enough.

"You know," he paused, semi-embarrassed to bring up the matter on his mind during a celebration. But feeding his beloved vines was uppermost in his mind.

"Go on, Rene," Sean said, narrowing his look just a bit, because knowing Rene and his one-track mind, and also knowing the problems he had been airing lately, he could almost see the man's mind churning with the various notions.

"I was wondering if I might get a sample of…dragon..scat," the little rotund man said, then ducked his head. Raising his eyes, he saw that he had their full attention, and he straightened up. "That is, if you don't mind. You see, the plants, the vines, they are not doing spectacular, and I need them to be doing spectacularly to get an explosion of flavor from the grapes…" his voice trailed off as he perceived the grins from all four dragonriders.

"You realize, of course, that dragons are strictly carnivorous," Sean said. "I had always been told that carnivore scat was not nutrient-rich enough to be a fertilizer."

"You need herbivores, single stomach herbivores, like horses for good fertilizer," Red said from behind his daughter, "and it has to go through a waiting period or it is too hot and could burn the plants."

"My folks' parents in Vilnius, on Earth, used chicken and other bird manure for extra nitrogen," Torene said, her folks nodding in agreement beyond her left shoulder, "and sometimes sheep droppings."

Rene was pleased at the reception of his request, but a little disappointed with the knowledge Sean had imparted. He had been fairly certain dragons were carnivores, but he'd had to find out for sure, having never seen a dragon eating.

"We can always leave you a sample, of course," Torene said, seeing Rene's crestfallen expression, "but use it sparingly and carefully, alright? We don't want anything to happen to those wonderful plants!"

"Here's an idea," M'hall said, "How about if we, Torene and I, bring you some horse manure from Ruatha next time we visit my grandparents. Deal?"

"That would be wonderful! Yes! Deal!" Rene brightened considerably and shook M'hall's outstretched hand.

"You know, too, that you can grow a hay crop in the valley and then mulch that into the soil for extra nutrients," Sorka said, "That's what my Ma used to do for our vegetables when we first moved to Pern and were living at Landing."

"Oh, my goodness, yes!" Rene exclaimed, "I had forgotten about mulching greens! How remiss of me!" The rotund man shook his gray head and pursed his lips. "This Thread, its immediacy throws so much of our common sense off sometimes! I would no more have forgotten about all the mulching and fertilizing components available to me than my own name! Thank you, Weyrwoman, thank you so much!"

"Weyrwoman! When did we go back to being so formal, Rene?" Sorka teased, "I am Sorka, the little red-headed girl you used to dandle on your knee sometimes, remember?"

"Yes, my dear, I remember, but you and all these other fine young dragonriders are destined for great things, and we mere mortals need to remember that!" Rene puffed up proudly. "Thank you, one and all, and I will now take my leave of you to enjoy your wedding feast." And with that, he turned and went back to his table.

The five couples made their way to the head table, shaking hands, nodding, patting backs and kissing cheeks; accepting the well-wishers' remarks and

smiling until they were at the dais that separated the head table from the rest of the tables.

M'hall took Torene's left hand and with her right she gathered up the gorgeous brocade skirts and the mounted the two steps and took their places in the middle of the table. Her parents took the seats beyond them with Cabot and his wife at the far end. M'hall's parents, Sean and Sorka sat next to him and Red and Mairi, Sorka's parents, sat at the near end.

The kitchen staff served them at once with juicy steaks, fluffy tubers with butter and chives, carrots with rosemary followed with lots of fruit and fruit juice to drink. Having no wine was not a problem, because Paul Benden had given Sean his last three bottles of burgundy, and Sean had given them to M'hall's kitchen staff to have ready for the day.

After the meal, everyone, from guests to kitchen staff, was handed a glass with a portion of that wonderful red burgundy in it.

Cabot stood up and raised his glass. "To Torene and Michael on their wonderful day. To the wonderful people of Benden Weyr for naming it after my good friend and colleague, Paul Benden. To Kitti Ping for her wonderful genetic masterpiece, our dragons, and to Pern, our beautiful, beautiful world!"

12


	5. The Storm

Chapter 5

THE STORM

The day had dawned humid and overcast with heavy clouds off in the distance over the ocean. The Weyrleaders, Wingleaders and Wingseconds sat at the Weyrleader conference table finishing up a briefing about the previous day's Threadfall. No major injuries, only a few thread-char blowbacks against cold cheeks. To be expected when the beast that you are riding is flaming that horrible, silvery mutant 'rain' out of the sky that consumes everything not metal, stone, or water.

Torene had just called down the dumb waiter shaft for the kitchen staff to bring extra klah and sweet pastries, when there was a commotion heard outside in the cavern.

A bone-tingling hum was heard and M'hall leaped to his feet, followed by D'vid, J'rey and B'ris. The four men looked at each other in consternation, then hurried over to the queen's ledge, which was right outside the Weyrleaders' conference room. Which queen had come into her season without the Weyrleaders and Wingleaders aware of it? N'klas, L'ren and Shih Lao hurried in from the Bowl.

"The bronzes are circling the rim and watching Tenneth blood her kills!" L'ren called up.

The cavern cleared of dragonriders as the queen riders scrambled to get their queens up and out of the area and the bronze riders went to gather around Nora, who was composedly reining in her golden queen's urge to gorge.

The dragonriders had found out early on that one queen coming into season may precipitate another queen into season if that queen is close. And queens will not share bronzes for their attention. The fledging combat force had nearly lost two queens to a fight and several bronzes who fought to separate them.

Instinct kicked in with the golden dragon and suddenly it wasn't hard to enforce her will on Tenneth. Tenneth knew. Knew she was the center of attention. Knew the bronze dragons were watching her every move. Knew what was coming.

Tenneth began glowing with vitality and sexuality and stood high up on her back toes and beat her wings, screaming her challenge to the bronzes staring down at her. The bronze dragons answered her and the caldera of the old volcano thundered with their roars.

Tenneth preened a bit, tucking her head and glancing around at her suitors, fluttering her nostrils in a low croon, inciting the bronzes to nearly leaping off the ledges at her, when suddenly, with a great sweep of her golden wings, she was airborne! The bronzes were half a wing beat behind her, trying to gain altitude on the fast disappearing queen.

The eight bronze riders gathered around Nora and were still earthbound enough to be able to move toward the mating chamber that was to the left of the great Hatching Grounds. Then, without seeming to know how it happened, Nora and the bronze riders were inside, locked in sync with the winged beasts out of sight above their heads.

The weyr folk went on about their day, knowing that the outcome would be told them eventually. Some went out to gather vegetables from the garden outside the caldera and some went into the kitchens to resume their duties there, while still others tended to young children at play.

M'hall returned to the table where only Wingseconds remained and chuckled.

"I guess we were finished anyway," he told them ruefully. The young men got up from their chairs, casually saluted their Weyrleader and left the room.

M'hall sat back down in his chair and pulled his report to him, perusing the list and going over the roster one more time to set it firmly in his mind.

A high-pitched keening wail erupted from the mating chamber. M'hall leaped up from his chair and bolted down the stone stairs, hit the main cavern floor and dodged people frozen in their tracks as he ran full-out towards the mating chamber.

That wail had no more begun than all the dragons ringing the rim of the caldera settled back on their haunches and began to keen! The noise was fiercesome and hurtful to the ears!

The high-pitched wail renewed and the mating chamber door burst open, to spill out bronze riders just as M'hall reached out to open the door. He halted abruptly, staring in at the screaming, writhing queen rider. L'ren brushed past him in a stumbling run, eyes wide and staring. He stopped, dazed, and turned in a slow circle. He began to run again, which turned into a determined run with head down and he launched himself full tilt into the stone wall of the cavern. The crack of his neck breaking was heard throughout the cavern and everyone froze again.

What had just happened? Had the dragonriders gone stark raving mad? Had the dragons gone crazy, too? Why had Nora, the queenrider, begun to wail and keen in such a horrific manner!?

As suddenly as it began, the wail was cut off as Nora collapsed, pale and drawn, deathly still. But outside, the dragon keen continued.

M'hall looked about in confusion, took a step and was mowed down by another bronze rider. B'ref this time. The swarthy man leaped for the stairs that M'hall had just come down and bolted up. The horrible sound of his body as it hit the earth forty feet below on the caldera floor told its own story. The dragon keening renewed and intensified.

Across the cavern, at the top edge of the caldera, a flicker of light was seen. M'hall glanced quickly in that direction and saw the immense thunderhead that had risen up into sight. Lightning!? Lightning! An inkling of dread feathered along his nerves. The other dragon riders from the mating chamber floundered around, looking at each other, gripping one another's arms, groping for speech.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" M'hall yelled. "WHAT HAPPENED!"

Jess, bronze Hallath's rider, stumbled over to M'hall, grasped the younger man by the arms and confirmed his worst fears. "Lightning!" he gasped. "Lightning killed Derwenth! Lightning killed Tenneth! Lightning killed Linth!" Then he fell to his knees, sobbing.

At that very moment, a rumble of thunder was heard, along with the rushing of several pairs of wings. Six bronze dragons seemed to fall helter skelter from the sky. Some landed on the rim, some floundered to the caldera floor, others bailed totally and landed outside the volcano. All were keening.

M'hall called to his bronze, _Brianth, call Torene! I need her here!_ Brianth, who had remained on the rim the entire time, but keening along with his fellow dragons, turned his head towards his rider, then turned his head skyward. _They come. They all come!_

M'hall turned on his heel and called across the cavern to the brown rider G'don, "Get my grandmother here, NOW! We'll need her healer capabilities! You know where she is at Ruatha!"

The brown dragon's rider nodded and bolted out into the caldera and flung himself onto his dragon before Paneth had a chance to completely land. The dragon winked out before barely a foot off the cavern floor. M' hall noticed, but made no mental note to scold G'don or Paneth. Speed was key here.

At that moment, Torene, Jean and Uloa landed in the cavern, dismounted and ran for M'hall.

"Lightning! Lightning killed Tenneth, Linth and Derwenth!" M'hall told the queen riders, who fell back a pace, stunned. "Further, B'ref and L'ren have committed suicide and Nora is…well, at least she isn't wailing anymore! But she may have suicided, too, for all I know!" M'hall raised a shaking hand to his face and brushed the tears out of his eyes. He looked totally ashen and the queen riders helped him to a table the best they could on their shaking legs. They all collapsed into chairs.

"I need you to tell Fort, Torene," M'hall said as he raised grief-stricken eyes to his wife.

She nodded and immediately contacted Faranth, Sorka's queen to alert the Weyrwoman at Fort Weyr of the tragedy that had befallen Benden Weyr. She was stunned when Faranth mentally screamed at her, _They have died! They have died! They have died!_

At first, Torene thought that Faranth meant Sean and Sorka had died. But that made no sense, so she went with what she knew. _Yes_, Torene answered, _they did, but we need your riders here! Please come now!_

"How did Faranth know we had tragedy here?" Torene asked aloud.

"Remember Duluth and Marco died before Landing was evacuated." M'hall said, pulling a shaking hand through his hair again. He had no recollection of that incident since he had been a mere child when that horrible accident had happened.

"No," Torene said sadly, "I hadn't remembered that. I'll go should check on Nora."

"Already done, Weyrwoman," said Annalisa, who appeared at Torene's elbow with a tray of hot cups of klah for everyone. "She is resting as comfortably as possible in the mating chamber with Dessi."

Dessi was the Benden Weyr's domestic manager since Julie had abdicated that position. Quite the capable woman, she handled all problems, concerns, joys and jubilation with the same serene smile and quick but unhurried efficiency. She gave the aura of studied calm to everything she did and it was a blessing in this crisis. The Weyrleaders sighed with relief.

Within moments, two dragons erupted from _between_ above the fire heights. Bronze Carenath and Gold Faranth with Sean and Sorka aboard. Unaccountably, Torene's eyes filled with tears as she ran for her mother-in-law.

Sorka dismounted and turned to find Torene, who all but fell into her arms. Sorka wrapped her arms around the slender girl and let her bury her head in her shoulder.

"My God!" Sean breathed, as his son met him with tears brimming. "Lightning! Lightning! I just never thought about it. I know we have storms. But I never put the two together! How was it that Nora's queen came into season on a CLOUDY day?!" Sean asked.

"Don't know. Unless it had been building for several days. And just wouldn't be put off anymore," M'hall said.

"How is Nora?" Sorka asked.

"Don't know that either," M'hall said, "Dessi is with her, so apparently she hasn't suicided. L'ren and B'ref both suicided. L'ren ran himself into the wall head first. B'ref threw himself off my weyr ledge. I'm surprised you didn't see him."

"I believe P'ter and R'bert have moved B'ref and L'ren to the inner caverns to await instructions," Annalisa said quietly. She too had been crying but was dry eyed now and holding tight onto control.

"Poor R'bert!" Torene said, her voice quivering, "How awful to lose a friend like that!"

The brown dragon, Panth, appeared above the skyline of the caldera, G'don and Mairi Hanrahan aboard. They circled carefully down and landed near the entrance to the cave. G'don dismounted and assisted Mairi down from his dragon. They ran toward the cavern, meeting Sean, Sorka, M'hall and Torene. Panth flew up to his weyr, while the humans hugged and retreated into the interior.

The thunderstorm was bearing down on the them with a vengeance now and the dragons sought the comfort of their own weyrs to wait out the storm. Carenath and Faranth merely drifted down from the rim on spread wings to the floor of the old volcano and went through the vast opening into the cavern proper.

The group converged on the mating chamber and quietly opened the door. Dessi stood near the entrance and greeted each with a heartfelt look and pat on the arm or shoulder.

"She rests, but it isn't easy," the woman said. "She seems more unconscious than resting. But I'll leave that for Mairi to determine." Dessi nodded to Mairi. They were old friends and former working companions, taking care of Landing's children while the parents had worked. Now those children were scattered about the planet and more than half grown, no longer needing caregivers.

Mairi stooped over Nora, listened to her breathing, watched for eye movement, noted the pallor of her skin. "I think you are right; she is more gone than just resting. We don't know all that much about this draconic pairing yet, do we?" She asked as she glanced around at the other dragon folk and at Dessi.

"No," was the universal response.

"I wonder," Mairi said, "Do we know where Nora's parents are? If they're still alive? Or old friends of hers? Before she became a dragonrider?"

"No," M'hall said, "But I think I can find out. Her family were miners, so maybe Torene's parents know or knew of them. And maybe Tarvi Telgar.

"Torene, could you contact Tallith at Telgar and ask him to bespeak F'mar to come here?" M'hall asked his wife, who looked up at him from her spot tucked under his arm.

"All of Pern will need to know, and they may as well know sooner than later," Torene said quietly. Then she spoke to Tallith, _Would you be a dear and ask F'mar to come here to Benden._

Tallith responded with _Derwenth and Linth and Tenneth are no more. What has happened to them? We wail. But we know not why._

Torene gasped. "The dragons throughout all of Pern are keening! They know that the three dragons are gone but don't know why!" She looked concernedly at M'hall, Sean and Sorka.

"Everyone knew when Duluth and Marco died," Sorka said slowly, "but there were only nineteen of us and we were all there when it happened." She looked around at the other riders in the room. "It didn't occur to us that all dragons everywhere would know THIS. Although, with their telepathic abilities, we should have known."

Sorka looked at Torene. "You should probably tell ALL the dragons so that their riders will know what's going on and not worry as much about why the dragons were wailing." Torene nodded mutely. "And have the Wingleaders inform the non-dragon folk what has happened, so they, too, will not be frantic with worry." Sorka's face was a study of sad and concentration as she thought through the ramifications of 3 dead dragons, two suicided riders and a queen rider in unknown condition.

_All my dragon friends,_ Torene spoke telepathically, _please tell your riders that you are mourning the loss of Derwenth, Tenneth and Linth to lightning strikes that killed them. We have lost L'ren and B'ref, too. Nora lives, barely. Please tell your riders to let us know if anyone knows of Nora's family or any of Nora's friends. She has need of family and friends. Wingleaders, please inform the landbound families of this distressing news._

Torene was softly, quietly bombarded with echoes and echoes of _Yes, I will _from all the dragons on Pern.

The thunderstorm raged above them as the sorrowful humans and subdued dragons waited out the storm. The kitchen staff brought them more hot tea and some sweet biscuits to go with the tea since all had declined more substantial food. They all sat together, dragonrider and weyr staff, drawing comfort from one another.

The storm moved on over the mountains and the sun came out making the area glisten with a beauty not appreciated by the mourners.

By late afternoon, all the dragons and their riders from Fort and Telgar had dropped in on Benden to offer condolences and console their comrades.

Tarvi, and Torene's mother, Sonja, had come up with a short list of names of Nora's friends and family members. They had given the list to F'mar, who had shared it with the Benden Weyrleaders. They all decided it would be best for M'hall and Torene to handle going to Nora's father themselves. Nora's mother had perished in the fever of the previous decade, leaving Nora's father to raise the last two children that were still home.

Torene and M'hall mounted up and went to Telgar Hold to get directions from Tarvi as to where Nora's father's place was.

Tarvi met the two dragonriders with tears streaming down his long, handsome face.

"Again, the skies have taken a loved one from us," Tarvi said. He reached out and pulled the young people close. They returned the embrace. Torene and M'hall knew that Tarvi was thinking of his beloved wife, Sallah in that mournful statement. It hadn't been until Sallah was unable to return to him from the spaceships above Pern that he realized how much he had loved her. It was sad to see how much that still weighed on him after all these years.

"Nora's father, Janin Bergonin, has a small cave at the end of our cave system," Tarvi said, "Cara and I will go with you, and Cara will stay with his children so he can be at his daughter's side."

Cara came out from her quarters, wearing a heavy jacket to ward off the chill. She, too, had been crying.

The dragonriders mounted their dragons, then reached down and assisted their passengers up behind them. It was a tight fit, but the ride would not be long, so it was bearable. They took off in a northerly direction, following Tarvi's pointing finger. He peered down at the ground beneath them, and then pointing again, off to the left, they saw the end of the mountain and the last cave in the coming twilight.

The dragons spiraled down to land gently in the field next to the cave. The dragonriders and their passengers disembarked and walked up to the entryway. Tarvi took the lead and knocked on the metal door, calling out "Bergonin, Bergonin, it's Telgar," in his rich, deep voice.

A click and a spinning of a wheel was heard, and the door opened inward to reveal a stately-looking gentleman with graying red hair and beard and intelligent gray-green eyes. He was clothed in a lightweight sweater and tweed slacks, looking every bit the dapper Englishman from a bygone era. Peering out from behind him were two young people, around ten years or so, curious and very much aware that what was happening was out of the ordinary.

"Telgar, what a pleasant surprise!" Bergonin said, smiling, and opening the door wide to admit his visitors, "Who all are visiting with you?"

"Bergonin, I am so sorry, but it is with sad news that we arrive on your doorstep this evening," Tarvi Telgar said, his eyes welling up with tears again. "This is Weyrleader M'hall and Weyrwoman Torene here from Benden…

"Benden! Oh! Nora is a queenrider at Benden!" Bergonin interrupted hurriedly, "What has happened to Nora?" Bergonin nearly shouted the question.

"You are right to be concerned, my dear friend," Tarvi said mournfully, "Nora's dragon, Tenneth, has been struck by lightning and has died…

Again Bergonin interrupted Tarvi. "Died! Died you said. What has happened to my daughter!?" Bergonin reached out and clutched Tarvi by the arms, shaking the tall, gaunt man in frustration. "What has happened to Nora?" Bergonin shouted. His children had come to their father's side and their eyes were wide with shock and surprise. Each one encircled an arm of their father and shook him loose from Tarvi.

"She is alive!" Tarvi answered, reaching for the man and embracing him. "She lives! But she is not herself. She needs her father, first and foremost. She needs someone to bring her back to herself! She has suffered a terrible loss! Her beloved dragon has died. She wishes to die! She must be encouraged not to suicide. She needs her father. She needs her loved ones around her! The dragonriders are here to take you to your daughter!" Tarvi got it all out in a rush so as to ease his friend's mind.

Bergonin looked at the dragonriders, then Tarvi again. A flicker of something flashed through his eyes. "They will take me by dragon to my daughter at Benden Weyr?" he asked.

"Yes," M'hall said, "We are here to take you to Nora, right this minute. We will be there that quickly. Get a heavy coat. It's cold _between._"

The man turned on his heel and went barreling back into his dwelling and disappeared to the left.

The two children, when faced with prestigious dragonriders, were at first tongue-tied. But they knew Tarvi Telgar and Cara quite well, and invited them all in. They all cleared the doorway and closed the door against the coming night's chill. Then the older of the two young people, the boy, said "What's it like to ride a dragon?" and that's all it took for the floodgates to open. Both Adáme and his sister, Evangélie were firing questions at M'hall and Torene so fast that the two could barely keep up with them.

Bergonin came charging back into the main living area, dressed in a long heavy coat and hat and gloves.

"Is this enough?" He asked the dragonriders.

"Yes. Are you ready to go?" M'hall asked.

"What about my children?" Bergonin asked, "They should not be here alone with this news!"

"Yes, you are right," Tarvi said. "Cara will stay here with Adáme, Evangélie."

"I will be back, oh, I don't know when, but I will somehow keep you informed on your sister's health." Bergonin said. He kissed Evangélie and hugged Adáme and then followed behind Torene and M'hall as the two dragonriders left the dwelling.

Tarvi looked down at his only daughter, the image of her mother, and kissed her on the forehead. "And this sits well with you? He asked.

"Yes, father," Cara said. "We will be fine."

Her father hesitated just a moment and then turned, hurried out the door and clambered up behind Torene.

The two dragons lifted off and Bergonin frantically grabbed Torene's waist. Torene patted the man's hand and said over her shoulder, "Just hang on. Alaranth will take good care of us," She smiled sadly in the semi-darkness of twilight.

The ride took far shorter on the way back than it had in coming which is always the case when a destination is unknown.

Brianth landed on the escarpment of Telgar Weyr and knelt down a bit for Tarvi to be able to dismount. The man turned and placed a hand on the bronze dragon's neck and said, "Thank you for safe passage. I only wish you had been able to fly _between_ when my lovely wife was trapped up on the ship that brought us here."

Torene bit back a sob. Her parents had told her the story of how Sallah Telgar had spent her last living moments on the _Yokohama_, sending the final two probes into space to gather as much information about the star or planet that rained Thread down on them.

Janin Bergonin was muttering something behind her as they waited for Tarvi to make his tearful farewells.

"I truly hope she lives," Tarvi said as he reached Torene and Janin.

"Telgar," Janin Bergonin bent down and spoke urgently, "Do you remember Kristo Toppan?"

"Vaguely," Telgar said, "Didn't he leave with the Tinkers after Nora got Searched by the dragonriders? I seem to remember that he went with them because he had no one else at home, since his parents had both died of fever. The Tinkers liked his attitude and how he worked. Said they could use his skills as a knife maker."

"Yes, yes, that's him!" Bergonin said. "How hard are the Tinkers to find?

"Why?" Telgar asked.

Torene made the connection immediately. "Because he may be another person to help stabilize Nora, right?" She looked over her shoulder at Bergonin, who nodded.

"Michael!" She said urgently to her husband.

M'hall's head snapped around. Only three people ever called him Michael—his parents; and his wife when she needed him desperately. He asked Brianth to move over to Alaranth.

"I need to contact your father and ask him about HIS family's whereabouts! Mr. Bergonin thinks a boy with them may help Nora want to remain in this world!" After M'hall nodded, Torene's eyes got that unfocused look as she communicated with Carenath.

_Caranath, love, ask Sean if he knows where his parents and their clan might be. We have to locate a boy who is traveling with them. _

Torene turned to Bergonin, "Were they close, this Kristo and Nora?"

Bergonin ducked his head and mumbled "Yes. But I broke them apart. I thought Nora was too young and Kristo too old to be thinking of marriage. Nora was so entranced with your ceremony. I thought she was projecting ideas without being in love herself. But Kristo said when he left, after Nora had gone up to the Weyr that he loved Nora and would never love another."

_Sean talked to his father last week when we overflew the big water searching for fresh fruit. They are South Sean says._

"Oh, this is frustrating!" Torene exclaimed. "Let's get you to Nora's side and work from Benden on how best to get Kristo up from the south."

Tarvi saluted the three and watched as the dragons crouched and sprang into the air, then watched spellbound as the pair of dragons disappeared into _between_.

The two dragons emerged from _between_ wingtip to wingtip and Torene smiled wanly at M'hall, who gave her a tight smile back. It released the tension somewhat of the overshadowing anguish of losing three dragons and two dragonriders, and possibly a queenrider.

Alaranth settled on the caldera floor and lowered herself to her forearms to assist Bergonin in dismounting. Torene slide off as Brianth landed and M'hall leaped off. The two dragons lifted off and found a spot on the rim with the sscores of other dragons.

Torene, Bergonin and M'hall hurried across the open space and entered the cavern proper; went directly to the mating chamber and knocked gently on the door.

Dessi opened the door, her eyes rimmed red and her face pale from the trauma of the two deaths.

"Come in Mr. Bergonin. I'm hoping with all my heart that when you talk to her, she will be able to hear you and respond," Dessi said dispiritedly.

Mairi sat next to the girl on a chair that had been brought in from the dining hall. She, too, looked haggard. She held Nora's hand, which to her, felt almost lifeless, for all the warmth it had.

Janin Bergonin stepped to his daughter's bedside and stroked her cheek. "Norabeth, it's your daddy. Wake up now, it's time for you to wake up." He got down heavily onto his knees and laid his cheek on her arm. "Norabeth, it's your daddy. Wake up now, sweetheart. Hear me. Listen to your daddy."

Mairi slipped her hand out from under Nora's and stood up. She patted Janin on the shoulder and motioned to the chair. He nodded gratefully and hauled himself up from his knees and sank onto the chair.

Mairi stepped out into the dining area where everyone was keeping vigil. She slipped into an empty chair and listened to what her new daughter-in-law was saying.

"Mr. Bergonin told us about a man who was seeing Nora. I don't know for how long, but apparently they were discussing marriage shortly before Nora was Searched. After she left for the Weyr, this man, his name is Kristo Toppan, left with the gypsy folks. We don't know exactly which family, but apparently he is a good knife maker." Here Torene stopped. She was looking at Sean, her father-in-law. After all, it was his family that were 'the movers', 'the tinkers,' 'the gypsies.' He would know best how to contact them. At least that was the hope.

Sean sat draped in an arm chair, one leg up and over the left arm and his back and right arm snugged up against the right arm of the chair. He'd been mulling over what Torene had said about the man they were looking for. His da would probably know, but getting that information without having a long discussion about it and involving the various heads of other camps was the part that irritated him.

And then there was his ma. You would think, Sean mused, that he was an errant kid, the way they treated him. He had learned everything there was to know about dragons; learned everything there was to know about fighting tactics, and taught that to all his riders; put together not one but three fighting forces of dragons; married the most beautiful woman on Pern, and still his mother wanted to have him shack up with his first cousin! Would they never see him as an adult?

Sean shook himself. "I saw my father last week when Carenath and I flew to the Southern Continent to scope out fresh fruit. But by now, the camp has probably moved on. Where? Good guess."

Sorka frowned at her husband, and Sean sat up a little straighter, "But, maybe I do know where. This time of year, my father likes the cooler temperatures inland near the big mountain chain. I could probably find them there. Getting them to open up about where the other clans might be is sketchy. But since it isn't just sheer nosiness on our parts that we need to find Kristo Toppan, maybe they will be a lot more forthwith coming." He heaved himself out of the armchair and gathered up his riding gloves, helmet and jacket. He looked across at his son. M'hall nodded to the silent question, leaned over to Torene, kissed her cheek and said, "I think I will accompany Sean." Torene nodded, knowing her husband's need to be moving, contributing somehow, not just sitting around.

Sorka nodded slightly and watched silently as the two men gathered up their gear and headed out to the bowl. She watched with Torene as the dragons drifted lazily down into the bowl to pick up their riders, then leap spectacularly into the air and disappear over the caldera's rim.

13


	6. Finding Kristo Toppan

CHAPTER 6

Finding Kristo Toppan

some colloquialisms

Sean said "Brianth, take this image from Carenath," and imaged the mouth of the Jordan River in the southern hemisphere with the two moons hitting the water to their left. The two dragons winked out and came out of between perfectly placed. The two men grinned at each other, and only saw the other's white teeth in the darkness.

The moonlight from the two moons glittered on the waves of the water, and beyond, a vast blackness of land. Sean was looking for the mouth of the river known as the Jordan. He pointed down and to the right for M'hall and the two dragons turned in tandem to follow the silvery ribbon of river to the mountains some distance away.

The dragons could see the different temperatures as colored bands, not invisible air like their riders did. They were being carried along in a southernly route quite rapidly with little effort required on their part. Their riders were content to allow the dragons to carry them southward and eastward as it was in that general direction that they needed to go.

Soon and sure enough, it was still early enough in the night for fires to be lit, and Sean and his son saw the fires of 3 separate camps from the air.

At the unspoken command from their riders, the dragons coasted quietly down from the sky to skim the treetops. As they neared the first encampment, Sean shook his head, then sighed and asked Carenath to increase height so as not to frighten the animals on the ground.

They cruised on to the second camp, and there, Sean identified whoever or whatever he was looking for and asked Carenath to land well beyond the animals. Brianth was a pace behind. The two men dismounted and Sean said, "Cricket." M'hall knew that Cricket had been his father's dapple gray and white stallion before the dragons took up all of his time. Sean had given Cricket to his father after the first incursion of Thread had killed his father's stallion. And that was how Sean had known this was the right encampment. He had seen Cricket's white mane and tail in the firelight.

"Halloo the fire," Sean called out. Immediately a mess of dogs started barking and baying and rushing at them through the bush. "Da, call off the dogs. It's your son, Sean."

"Bezal, Banshee! Come!" Porrig Connell yelled. The dogs quit barking and baying, but still came towards them in the bush. "Ye be fine. They'll not tear ya limb from limb."

Sean elbowed his son gently, and said sotto voce, "Yeah, they won't tear us limb from limb, but maybe lick us to death." The dogs continued to rush through the brush and Sean caught the first one that leaped high up and landed on his chest, nearly knocking him off his feet. Four or five more milled around their feet, impeding their progress, yelping when they got stepped on.

They reached the firelight as Porrig met them at the edge. "What brings ya out here at such a time," the old man said.

"Hello to you too, da," Sean said. He gave his father a mock salute and stepped on into the circle of light and acknowledged his mother with an upward toss of his head. "We're hopin' to find Kristo Toppan, the knifemaker. We've had tragedy hit Benden, and Kristo knows Norabeth."

M'hall knew the situation with his paternal grandparents, and kept his mouth closed and his facial features neutral. His paternal grandparents had always felt that Sean had abandoned them, never fully taking into account what their son did for them and the rest of Pern on a near daily basis. To them, he had gone over to the 'enemy.'

"And what would ya be wantin' with Kristo? Takin' him off to those 'weyrs' ya be talkin' about?" Porrig growled.

"Is the man here or not?" Sean queried, raising his voice, "It be life or death for Norabeth Bergonin and that needs to be addressed right quick."

"I'm here," a voice said, a man materializing out of the shadows. He was of medium height, rugged build, strong-looking with a handsome face. Sandy haired by firelight and dark brown eyes. "What's this about Norabeth?"

"You know she was Searched. Did you also know she is a golden dragon rider?" Sean asked, looking intently at the man. He didn't miss the startled look nor did he miss the look his mother sent him. Obviously, she had heard through the network of peddlers that traversed the southern hemisphere that Nora was a queenrider, but had not passed that information on to Kristo.

"Yes," Sean continued, "She is a queenrider. Or she was until today. Lightning killed her queen dragon during a flight. Two other dragons were killed also. Their riders suicided. Nora has not. Yet. If you have any feelings for the girl, you will come with us this very moment and save her life."

"Ya not be aknowin' that," Porrig shouted. He started toward his son. M'hall stepped out from next his father and stared fiercely at the old man. In the distance, the whole encampment heard the dragons growl. Porrig stopped so quickly he teetered on the balls of his feet.

"Norabeth may die?" Kristo asked, moving closer to Sean and M'hall.

"Yes," Sean said again, "she needs someone whose heart knows hers. To help bring her back from the edge of the void she is balanced on." He threw up a hand to stop his mother from interfering. "She needs you, Kristo. Her father told us of the affection you held for each other. He awaits you, too. Warmly."

"Ol Janin said that?" Kristo asked. He was looking at Sean with skepticism in his eyes. "He told me to leave."

"That was before he knew that the feelings were mutual. He thought Norabeth was just pining for a beautiful wedding dress like Torene had," Sean said. Then he turned abruptly to his mother, "And NO! Do not feed him any more of your stories!" he growled.

"Kristo, do you need to get anything?" M'hall asked, taking the man in hand while Sean dealt with his parents. "Got a heavy coat? It gets cold where we are going."

"Uh, yeah, let me get it," Kristo turned and retraced his steps to a nearby tent. He was gone only a few moments, coming back laden with clothing and a heavy hat.

"NO!" Porrig shouted. "I forbid it! Ya be our best knife maker! A great tinker ya wilmake! I forbid it, ya hear?"

Kristo whirled towards Porrig and his wife. 'You KNEW. You knew and did not tell me! I owe you nothing! I have paid my way fully. And knowing something about you people, I made sure you are owing ME, so I can leave here cleanly! You knew."

At that moment, the two dragons walked into the firelight, fully upright with wings spread. Little did the assembled people know that they spread their wings for balance. To them, they looked bigger than life itself.

M'hall hid a grin as he spun on his heel and vaulted to Brianth's back. His father sprang up onto Carenath's back and reached down and helped Kristo alight. The mere fact that M'hall and Brianth were watching the people on the ground kept them from trying to get Kristo back.

"You will find the knives you wanted me to make completed, and, on the bedroll," Kristo said quietly with dignity. "I will not be returning."

The two dragons trumpeted, sprang into the air and swept their wings down, turning the campsite into a swirling mass of dust. Within two wing strokes they were above the firelight and out of sight of the people below.

A few minutes later they were back at the mouth of the Jordan River and the two dragons settled down onto the sand.

"Whew!" Sean said, "I thought my da would have apoplexy! Never seen him so riled up!"

"Me neither!" his son said. They had stopped so that Kristo could rearrange his clothing and put his coat and hat on. He had no gloves.

"Just put your hands in my pockets," Sean said. "I have my gloves on. Where we are going next should be explained to you, although it will be an inadequate explanation," he paused.

"We are going _between_. Which is how dragons travel. We have timed it. It takes eight seconds. Longest eight seconds you have ever felt. You will be the coldest you have ever been. You will be deprived of sensation. You will not be able to feel your hands in my pockets, nor feel the dragon between your legs. You will not be able to see anything in the pitch black. If you could hold your hand up to your face, you would not see it, nor even sense it was there," Sean said. Then paused again. "The reason we go to all this trouble is to try to prepare you. We don't want you to panic. If you panic you may fall, and I would not be able to catch you, nor could Carenath. Nor could M'hall, my son; nor his dragon Brianth," Sean nodded to each in turn. Kristo's eyes grew wider. He was having a hard time of it. It was his first dragon experience, and now they were telling him he might not survive?

"Wait, wait! I might not survive this trip?" Kristo queried shakily.

The two dragonmen flashed white smiles in the darkness, "No Kristo, that isn't what we are saying. We're saying 'don't panic! Trust us to get you there safely, but here is what to expect in the next eight seconds," M'hall said, "It was rather frightening for us the first time we traveled with our dragons because no one could tell us what to expect. Now we know what to expect and try to help others prepare for it, that's all."

"That's all," Kristo said, "That's an awful lot for eight seconds!"

"Yes, it is," Sean said, "You will say we didn't prepare you enough after you've experienced it, because our poor words really don't do the lack of sensory input justice. But we do try our best. Let's go!"

Kristo jammed his hands into Sean's pockets and clung to the older man like a burr.

"Eight seconds, eight seconds, eight seconds, eight sec" Kristo's eyes were huge in his head. He looked around himself and saw nothing, felt nothing, heard nothing, not even his own voice, and suddenly, he could!

"conds, eight seconds, Oh!" He could feel the warmer air around his face, he could feel the breeze ruffle his hair, he could feel the warmth of the dragon between his knees, he could see the sky overhead where it deepened into inky blackness. "My God! You were so right! So inadequate!" he crowed.

Sean and M'hall grinned towards each other, not seeing their companions clearly in the darkness but knowing that they were there. They flew up to the caldera and dropped gently down to land in the bowl. Their task complete.

5


	7. Alaranth's First Hatching

Chapter 7

Alaranth's First Hatching

as in Chap 3, First Search, there are colloquialisms

The roast wherry was just being served when Brianth mentally nudged M'hall. _You need to get the candidates ready, hatching will be today_. M'hall asked his dragon_, How much time do we have?_ Brianth responded with the dragon's equivalent to a shrug_, Awhile._

"Torene, please ask Alaranth how long we have before her eggs start hatching today," M'hall asked his mate, sitting next to him at the head table. He looked over at the beautiful woman next to him and saw that her eyes were unfocused.

"I'd say we could just about finish up eating and go directly to the hatching grounds. I'd better get our guests assembled," Torene said, and then her eyes looked off into the distance and became unfocused as she communed with several brown, blue and green dragons.

A few minutes later, out the broad opening of the Bowl, M'hall could see blue, green and brown dragons and their riders lifting off and heading out for the holdings of the families of their candidates. They would bring the families, or at least the parents, of the candidates back to the Weyr to enjoy the hatching of the dragonets.

"That is so absolutely amazing, that you can talk to everyone's dragons," M'hall said, "It makes it so much easier to dispatch riders." He leaned over and hugged her.

The kitchen staff served the tubers and carrots and then passed around the hot rolls with butter.

"Butter, mmm, love that butter," Torene said quietly to M'hall. He grinned.

The candidates that had been Searched had arrived three weeks or so prior to this day. They had grown accustomed to the looser family structure of the Weyr and the stricter study schedule. They had a lot to learn about dragons in general and dragonets in particular in a very short time. The Weyr also fed better than most home places, 'Holds' as they were beginning to be called. The tithing system was in place now and the landbound people easily gave up a portion of their harvest for the protection of the dragons from Thread.

As Torene and M'hall finished their dinner, they looked around at the candidates, all of whom had finished eating also. They stood up in unison, garnering the attention of all the riders, candidates and weyr folk.

"Our first hatching here at Benden Weyr will be commencing soon. We need all dragonrider candidates to change into the ceremonial shifts and meet back at the Hatching Ground shortly," M'hall paused, "Dragons have been dispatched to collect your families or parents for the big event and should be arriving in good time," M'hall paused again. A low, distinct humming had begun to penetrate his speech, gaining in intensity. He shook his head to dispel the thrumming in his skull at the same moment his Weyrwoman cried "Scatter! Get back here quickly! That sound is the bronze dragons humming in imminent anticipation of the eggs hatching!"

Everyone scattered like wherries before a hunting dragon. The candidates to their quarters to get changed. The kitchen staff back into the kitchen to get refreshments ready for guests after the Hatching. The weyrlings to the Bowl to help arriving guests dismount. Everyone had been drilled for this day with the hopes it would go relatively smoothly.

The guests had begun arriving and were amazed no collisions were occurring with the sheer volume of dragon traffic. They walked quickly away from their transport to allow the dragon to spring up and another to land.

But as they reached the Hatching Grounds, the heat made them hesitate and mill around. Torene and M'hall beckoned and called to their guests but ended up having to go and usher a few in onto the hot sands. "It helps if you pick up your feet rather quickly," Torene said to the ladies she was escorting, their husbands falling in behind. She smiled encouragingly to each of the ladies and then shot a grin over her shoulder. "We call this 'The Dance of the Hatching Sands" she said, leading them to the stone tier seats. "It'll be cooler above the sands." There she left them with a wave to help M'hall with an elderly gentleman having trouble with balance on the sand.

Once begun, the press of people at the entrance trickled onto the hot sands and into the stone tiered seating to the accompaniment of dragon humming. The tiers were filling nicely and Torene recognized several of the candidates' families by whom she saw them waving to. She reached M'hall at the entrance to the hatching grounds and stood there with a complacent smile on her face, his arm draped across her shoulders.

A hearty clap on his shoulder told M'hall that his parents had arrived. He turned with Torene still in the crook of his elbow, a broad smile on his face to greet Sean and Sorka. He noticed for the first time that his father's thick reddish mane was streaked with gray at the temples. His smile faltered just a bit. His father getting old? He glanced at his mother. Her hair was as vibrant red as always. He relaxed a bit. His father had always been the worrier. The one with the great weight of learning the dragons and studying aerial fighting methods then passing on what he learned. He hugged his mother and the two women pressed cheeks. Then all four leaders turned to watch the goings on of the entire cavern.

The humming was getting more intense and it felt like her bones were vibrating so much she could barely stand the suspense when she heard a very audible cracking sound. Torene saw several eggs rocking at once, one with a large crack showing. She hoped everyone would be seated in time to enjoy all the eggs hatching.

Dragon traffic at the entrance thinned to a final few and the guests were able to make their seats when the egg split and its bronze occupant burst out of his shell and onto the sands. He stood up, squeaked at his mother and then turned his head towards the candidates. He unbalanced and his snout plowed into the sand right in front of a tall, thin lad from Telgar Hold. The boy knelt down to help the bronze right himself and then cried out, "He wants me! He says his name is Belnath."

Everyone in the tiers applauded and called congratulations. Just then, two more eggs ruptured, spilling the dragonets onto the sands. "_I am Plutarth. You are my mate,_" the brown dragonet spoke in the mind of the gangling dark-haired youth he found.

"She says her name is 'Taeth,'" exclaimed the fair-haired girl that Impressed the green dragon. She knelt to encircle the dragonet in her arms.

There were several quick impressions in a row and Torene lost count. _Good thing Uloa and Jean can keep these records straight_, Torene thought, glancing around and then focusing her attention on the queen egg.

Not that they would have any trouble sorting it all out after the fact.

Once a connection was made between human and dragon, it was for a lifetime, and couldn't be severed except in death, and sometimes not even then. With Threadfall accidents, badly injured dragons sometimes suicided with their riders on board, and the riders wouldn't have it any other way.

There were five candidates for Alaranth's first queen egg, and Torene hoped they were enough. There were the twins, Tawny and Tonya, from the farm on the hill behind Fort Hold. Very intelligent, pretty and efficient. Their older sister, Darian, also very pretty and intelligent. Then there was yet an older girl from the lower caverns here at Benden, whose name was Brilla. A sharp featured girl, but very compassionate and helpful. Lastly there was Annalisa, a strangely quiet girl who hid in her long hair, but about whom the dragons were quite vocal. She came from Fort Hold, too, although Sean and Sorka, M'hall's parents and Fort's Weyrleaders, did not know her. She had come the very day she was Searched, which was unusual, since usually the family wanted to adjust to their family member leaving. She had been particularly comforting when Nora's queen had died. Being quietly supportive and helpful to Torene and M'hall both, anticipating problems and smoothing the way.

At that moment, the queen egg rocked mightily and split cleanly in two. The little gold dragonet fumbled a bit, trying to extricate herself, and gave a brief snarl, kicking free of her confines. All five girls stood transfixed while the dragonet looked them over, then moved regally and unerringly to Annalisa's side. "She says her name is Ragath," the girl said, dropping to her knees and hugging the dragonet around the neck. "She's simply beautiful," Annalisa said, turning to Torene. Torene noticed she did not glance at the tiers beside her but got to her feet and walked the dragonet towards the Weyrleaders.

"I need to feed her now, don't I, Weyrwoman Torene? I can feel how hungry she is. She is just crying and crying with hunger," Annalisa said.

"Yes, feeding her comes first," Torene said as she motioned for a weyrling to meet them with a bowl of food. "Your family isn't here? Torene asked, scanning the various groups gathered. Torene was relatively sure there wasn't a family, but double checked nonetheless. There seemed to be a dragonet in the midst of each group.

"No. I don't have any parents. They died in the Fever. I was raised near Fort Hold and I was supposed to be given to my Holder's son but was Searched before _that_ could happen." Annalisa didn't look a bit happy about the former circumstance. Then she smiled and gently scratched the dragonet's eye ridge. "I am extremely grateful to the dragons for finding me."

Torene frowned. "Given to your Holder's son? Like a marriage contract?" She glanced at M'hall.

"No, he's got a wife. I was to be given to help with the children...at least that's what was said. I didn't really believe it..." her voice trailed off.

They reached the weyrling and the bowl of food she held. Annalisa, taking the Weyrwoman's advice, started feeding chunks of meat to her queen and talking soothingly to her while keeping her from choking.

Making sure the new queenrider was well attended by the weyrling, Torene excused herself and turned to her other duties: moving the other queen candidates to the remaining eggs; watching the rest of the eggs hatch and make human connections. She trusted Jean and Uloa to make sure the guests headed towards the dining area for the feast laid out for them there.

M'hall stood with Annalisa, absorbing what she had said. He studied her profile, what he could see of it. Very petite, pretty features, wide set clear green eyes; dark, almost black hair covering most of her face. He remembered how quietly competent she was when helping Dessi with Nora.

As if feeling the weight of his stare, Annalisa glanced up. With the glow of her dragonet's affection bolstering the young woman, she was absolutely stunning. M'hall shook his head slowly and asked, "What do you believe your duties were going to be?"

"Bedding the Holder's son," Annalisa stated bluntly, looping her hair back behind her ear and straightening up. She rested her hand on her dragon's headknob, gaining confidence from that wondrous feeling of love and affection radiating from the golden creature at her side.

The dragonet finished eating, her eyes in shades of deep contentment blue and the first eyelids closing with somnolence. "Where do we go now?" Annalisa asked.

M'hall gestured to the weyrling who had stepped back to give the Weyrleader and new queenrider a bit of privacy.

"Greenrider Dru will show you to the queen's quarters on the third level," M'hall said, "and Queenrider Uloa will be up very shortly with answers to all your questions about queens and especially about settling your big girl down for her first nap. You must return, if you are up to it, to enjoy the Hatching Celebration."

"Thank you, Weyrleader," Annalisa said formally, bowing slightly to the man before her.

"Annalisa, we are family here. The moment you Impressed Ragath, you gained a rather large family. We are ever at your call if you have need of us. Do not hesitate." M'hall leaned in a bit and gave the young woman a gentle squeeze on her upper arm, smiling down at her, "Now, let's get this girl off to bed!"

The weyrling stepped away, turning, and with a friendly smile, gestured for Annalisa to join him, and the pair regally paced after her up the ramp.

Of the human-draconic connections made that evening, all four of the young adults from the Anwell family came away with dragons.

Tawny and the green dragon Beth were now partners. Tonya and Moth, another green dragon had paired up. Jerrak, now J'rak, and the brown dragon Kinith, were lifelong friends and Darian and the blue dragon Badeth were now paired. They bedded their young charges down in their separate weyrling quarters and though reluctant to leave their new dragonets, returned to the hall to meet up with their parents.

Sean and Sorka were perambulating around the various small groups of celebrants, watching and listening to the animated talk, when they saw the four Anwell children come back into the cavern. They looked at one another and Sean said, "Those kids have _got_ to be siblings!" They watched where the kids were headed and threaded their way through the crowd and met up with them just as the young people reached their parents.

"Hello Sean, Sorka," Sherilayn said, catching sight of the Fort Weyr-leaders just beyond Darian's shoulder.

"Hello," Sean said. "Do I know you?" he asked, glancing at Sorka to see if she recognized the lovely woman. The blank look on her face answered his unspoken question to his wife.

"No. You and I have not met," Sherilayn said, "but Sorka ought to remember me." She smiled widely at the Weyrwoman's confusion. "Try it again, Sorka, only put me in a gray-green botany uniform." And with that, she brought her hands up and scooped her hair up to on top of her head.

"Sheri!" Sorka cried, smiling as comprehension dawned. She took the last two steps and embraced the older woman.

"There you go! Knew it would come to you," Sherilayn said. "I taught you when we first landed here. Well, one of several teachers. Was sure I could get you to 'go green' with me, but you were set on being a vet, like your dad. How is he, by the way?"

"Still giving me siblings like Mama was a youngster!" Sorka said with a wry grin.

"Wal, gud brudmares iz hard ta cum by!" said the little gray-haired, gap-toothed bewhiskered man standing next to Sherilayn said, "Mairi and Sheri both are working on another lil bizkit!"

Sorka and Sean both glanced over at the little man standing between the 4 new weyrlings.

"This is my husband, Anwell," Sherilayn said with a deeply loving look on her face, "and he's right! I am carrying number 16 and I believe your mother is carrying number 8. Right?

Sean's eyes widened with surprise. "Sixteen? Sixteen children?"

"Yes. We have a cave system on the backside of the mountain from Fort, from your place," Sherilayn said, "You and Sorka should come by. It's a beautiful place. The grubs that Ted Tubberman found and improved have managed to keep our place green."

"Green," Sean said, his eyebrows arching upwards, "You did say green, right?"

"Yes," Sherilayn said, "Deep, dark, deciduous forest green. Ted's wife, Mary, and the kids, Petey, Janie and Kylie, have moved from their compound down south to the next set of caves. They are doing quite well. We helped them get furnished and settled in before it started getting cold. They are snug and well provisioned. Ned is still working with the engineers, but checks on them often."

"Ted warnt no fool," Anwell said, "Full 'o hisself an' a bitufa bully, but he knowed bot'ny. Hiz grubs shornuff do dere job!

"Wait, what?" Sean frowned, "You're saying that Ted Tubberman actually improved something? I thought he was a crackpot!"

"Twas thet, too. But doze grubs o' hiz do jus dandy keepin' our stakes green," the little wizened man punctuated his bizarre speech with many head nods. "He shudna shot off thet homin' d'vice, an' he shornuff shudna played God wi' doze cats, but he knowed bot'ny."

"This I will have to see!" Sean said, a baffled smile on his face.

"Anytime," Sherilayn said. "Beralas, L'ren and R'bert can vouch for us!" she laughed, "They had a lovely time when they came and Searched and found our candidates."

"Sherilayn, Anwell, kids," Sorka said sadly, her voice catching, "L'ren died just a few short weeks ago. He and B'ref died when their dragons were struck by lightning during a mating flight. It was a freak thing. Usually goldens come into season on bright, sunny hot days. The heat helps them along. But Tenneth, Queenrider Nora's dragon, was overdue and came into season during a thunderstorm."

"Oh!" Sherilayn said, looking at her three girls, "that is just so very sad! And I'm going to be much the 'Mother' here and say how thankful I am that our three girls did not get gold! It would be too much to bear if one of my children died before I did!"

The news of the death of L'ren put quite a damper on the Anwell family. The girls huddled up next to their mother and J'rak took his father's hand in his, who in turn, took Sheri's hand with his other hand. They were all looking tremendously sorrowed.

Sorka felt just awful about it, but there was nothing she could do about it except lead the family to the tables and offer them dessert and drinks.

And of course, none of them wanted anything.

"I am so sorry I shattered your celebration," Sorka said, her voice breaking. Sean wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gentle encouragement. "I should have held off!"

"It's all right," Sherilayn said. "it is the truth, even if it a hurtful truth. And those who died should be honored somehow.." her voice trailed off. She shook herself and forced a smile onto her lips.

"We will honor them by celebrating being a dragonrider!" she said, her voice ringing with conviction. She turned to her girls and their countenances lit up. She turned to Anwell and J'rak and took their hands in hers.

"We will dance!" And with that, she flung out the command to everyone in the cavern, "We are going to dance for the fallen dragonriders! Where are our musicians!? Where is M'hall! I know he plays a mean pipe. Torene! You play the pennywhistle very well! Come, let us dance!"

Her enthusiasm was contagious. The other families were not familiar with what went on at hatchings, so dancing seemed very appropriate to them as a celebration of life. A guitarist was found, a fiddler, and someone hauled out a set of tambourines. The musicians gathered and consulted on what to play, and then started right up with "Amazing Grace." That led to "Bound for the Promised Land" and "Waltzing Matilda." Then someone started up "Wild Rover No More."

Next came a dance tune that set every toe to tapping and every able-bodied couple doing the do-si-do and swinging their partners round and round. Musicians were replaced by others when they grew weary and people called out favorites to hear, to dance to, and to sing with.

The kitchen staff hurriedly put together some fresh fruit and cheeses on trays and brought out drinks to go along with the fruit. Everyone was swinging by the tables, getting some refreshments and returning to the dancing and singing. The revelry was feeding upon itself and everyone had a great time. L'ren and B'ref would have loved it.

Early the next morning, Torene and M'hall were at breakfast with the rest of the dragonriders. Thread was due to fall east of them, finishing up near the eastern edge of the land that was beholden to Benden for protection.

Most everyone was a bit somber and quiet due to the fact that fighting Thread was serious business, and seemed even more onerous after such a lovely evening.

"Okay, everyone, buck up," Torene said, forcing a smile onto her face. "What a beautiful tribute last night to our fallen comrades! But now we have to get to work. We need the firestone sacks filled, pronto. The spot inspection of riding gear went great day before yesterday, so riders, let's gear up!"

She continued, "Queen riders and pregnant greens, meet at the storage facility for flame throwers and face masks. Let's go! Thread will be falling in an hour!"

M'hall took over from his wife. "P'ter, N'klas, Jess, Jerry; you four wingseconds have the middle levels, decide amongst yourselves who goes where. M'tin, G'tan, Frank, Ashok, D'ryl and Garth are on the lowest level just above the queens. You six can alternate getting firestone. That will keep you from getting burnt out fighting. Remember, men, listen to you dragons. We need fighting dragons every day. We do not need heroes blowing out their partners!"

The impromptu meeting broke up with everyone getting to their feet, grabbing another pastry, refilling their cups or heading off to get equipment. Torene reached down and picked up another pastry from the plate. She bit into the delectably sweet pastry and signed. She was all ready to go except shrugging into her heavy jacket, which she always saved for last, even on the coldest days.

As she turned away from the tables, her eyes met those of Dessi coming out of the mating chamber. They had decided not to disturb Nora as she continued to lay in the deep sleep of near coma. Kristo was continually with her. He even slept on a cot that had been made up for him near her bedside. Dessi bathed Nora every other day or so and continually moved her, having seen what just the weight of a person on the same bones day after day could do to the flesh. During the Fever Years, she had learned so many things like that, at quite the cost of life to the people of Pern.

Dessi shook her head and Torene gave a little nod and a small, sad smile in return. No one knew what went on in a dragon rider's mind when the dragon died. They did not know if Tenneth had died when she was struck by lightning and went between. Most probably she had, but the living had no way of knowing what transpired in those few seconds' communication between dragon and rider or even if there was time for communication!

They would just have to wait and see. At least Nora was being fed. For some reason, when food was pressed to her lips, the girl opened her mouth, chewed and swallowed. The same with drink. Kristo asked for sweet drinks to tempt his sweetheart. He asked for savory, wonderful smelling foods to entice Nora with. But she did not wake up.

Dessi had talked to Kristo about Nora. Several times. She had told him to tell Nora how he felt. To verbalize his feelings for her, so that she would know. So far, he had hesitated, feeling that laying his heart bare without knowing how Nora actually felt in return was opening himself up to great heartache.

M'hall crossed to the cavern floor to Torene's side and glanced at the mating chamber. He gave Dessi an encouraging smile and wrapped his arm around Torene and they went outside to meet their dragons.

Dessi went on across the cavern to the food preparation area and sat down with Tarrie for a late breakfast. They had both enjoyed the impromptu celebration of the previous night, and thought it would be a great addition to the Hatching.

Then Tarrie's mind veered into more practical matters.

"Benden Hold has sent us a cart load of fresh pork and brined hams. I have stored them in the cold room along with the late harvest vegetables they sent. Anwell Hold sent root vegetables, wild rabbits, a couple of deer haunches and a complete elk," she shook her head and continued, "I sure don't know how that old man does it. He keeps his family of 17, no wait, we have 4 of his kids here now, so his 13 and the Tubberman 4 supplied with meat and vegetables. And sends us his best! I've seen some of the skins he takes to Stores for credit. They are not a nice as the carcasses he gives us!"

Dessi smiled, "It isn't just Anwell, you know. He has taught all his children how to fend for themselves. I'd hate for some boy to think about getting frisky with one of the Anwell girls!" She chuckled. "They would be in for a big surprise!"

The two women had finished their breakfast and now they got up, took their things to the sink, where they parted company. Tarrie to clean up and Dessi to get on the baking.

11


	8. The Awful Mating Flight of Benden Weyr

8\. The Awful Mating Flight of Benden Weyr

Several days later, down in the kitchen area, Julie had been upset all that morning. Then kitchen staff had totally ruined her lunch and she had to make them prepare it again.

"How can you burn toast if you watch it closely?!" she had yelled at the two younger girls who worked the midday shift, "And don't tell me to scrape it-I CAN STILL TASTE THE BURNT PART!"

She flounced off into the dining area, aware that she was making a scene, but past caring_. It just wasn't fair_, she fumed to herself. Torene had latched onto M'hall. And Jess had rebuffed her attentions, as had David and Boris. She knew she wasn't tall and elegantly graceful like Torene. She was quite short, but also very slender, and had made a habit of curling up on the arms of her favorite bronze riders' chairs so they would see how kittenish she was. She even affected a little yowl and scrunched her eyes up while clawing at them playfully with little pawing motions. Jess used to think it was cute, but now he usually just got up and left, which would leave Julie dumped off the unbalanced chair.

Hunger gnawed at her belly. Her golden dragon, Rementh, stirred awake from her mid-morning nap, echoing her rider's hunger pangs.

M'hall strode into the dining area, glancing around urgently. "Uloa! Jean! Torene!" he called, "Get your queens out of here! Rementh is glowing!"

There was a mad scramble as the Weyrwoman and the queen riders darted off to grab their gear and head for their golden dragons.

Julie sat still, ignoring the frenzied activity around her.

"Julie?" M'hall asked arms askance on his hips, eyes wide with incredulity. "Did you not hear the commotion outside; hear me order the other queens away? Don't you feel your dragon's arousal?"

"Yes. I heard you. But I'm hungry and am going to eat before I faint with it!" she snapped, crossing her arms like a petulant child.

"You WHAT? Your dragon is preparing to rise to mate! You need to get out there and control her! The bronzes are circling the Rim around Rementh!" M'hall was nearly apoplectic with rage. _The insufferable wench!_

He snatched her up by the arm just as they heard a dragon squeal in the soprano range. Julie looked up at M'hall with all the latent sexuality she could convey smoldering in her dark eyes. "What about you, M'hall? Will Brianth be rising with the other bronzes?"

"No." M'hall stated bluntly, coldly, "Now get out there with your queen!"

Grabbing her again by the arm, fearing, no, knowing it was already too late, he marched her out of the cavern. They both looked down the bowl of the caldera at the penned beasts. Rementh was finishing the entrails of one herd beast and rose to pick out another.

"Control her," M'hall ground out. "Try to salvage this mating flight!"

Julie looked up at the savage, intense loathing on his handsome face and shrugged. Inside, she was quivering with fear. She had never seen M'hall quite so angry. But she maintained a stance of defiance and blatant sexuality. She wanted M'hall so badly! And he would hardly look at her without that loathing look on his handsome face.

Rementh pounced on the second beast as Julie finally gained control of the roiling mind of her golden female dragon. The dragon did not give up easily, though, and continued to eat the flesh of the second herd beast, snarling at her rider. As Rementh jumped for a wherry, Julie was able to get the great dragon to merely drain its' blood and not eat of its flesh. The golden dragon needed quick, hot energy for the mating flight, not the weighing down that a full stomach would do.

Finishing up with the wherry, Rementh began to launch herself at another beast and Julie scolded the queen dragon.

_That's quite enough, don't you think?_ Julie forced her will upon her aroused dragon. Rementh snarled in the direction of her rider and then noticed the bronzes watching her. She stretched sensually, extending her wings and showing off her comely form. She preened before the half dozen bronzes, turning this way and that to show to best advantage.

Suddenly the queen, pulsing with golden color, sprang up out of the Bowl. The attending bronzes sprang up, too, and promptly overshot and outdistanced her. They continued to climb while the queen floundered in the middle distance. Their riders, who had gathered around Julie, easing her toward the mating chamber on the ground floor, fell back in consternation as the bronzes confusedly searched the skies for the queen who was not above them.

Try as she might, the queen could not gain on the bronzes. She was having trouble maintaining what altitude she had when a blue blur shot up from the far end of the lake, arrowing on an intersect course with the her.

The dragonriders and the weyr people looked on in stunned silence as the blue caught up with the queen, and to the total consternation of all the spectators, flipped onto his back, shot under the belly of the queen, twined his neck around hers and penetrated.

They immediately began falling as neither the queen nor the blue had the strength or stamina to prolong the flight. They broke apart a mere 40 feet from the ground, the blue soaring up and bugling triumphantly before heading back toward the lake while the queen floundered closer to the ground, gathered herself and finally landed awkwardly.

The riders had been so stunned by the unfolding events, and by the roiled, confused thoughts of their dragons that they had all stopped short of the mating chamber. The bronzes were returning to the rim of the Weyr, eyes whirling orange with confusion. M'hall made note of where the blue dragon had disappeared to, and with Brianth's mental reinforcement, knew who the rider was.

Julie was standing, arms hanging at her sides, shaking her head back and forth.

"Ohhh," she moaned, "Ohhhhhh!"

M'hall looked down at her, loathing written all over his face. David, T'mas, Jess and the other bronze riders had backed away from the pair before turning and heading toward the cavern to console their dragons.

"And THAT," M'hall ground out, anger in every line of him, "will be recorded as the ONLY atrocity of Benden Weyr. Congratulations, Queenrider Julie, you are finally FIRST at something. Isn't that what I always hear you moaning about? You weren't first to pick out a weyr here for Rementh and you felt slighted. Your queen wasn't first to rise to mate here and make you Weyrwoman, and you felt maligned. You weren't first in Jess' bed and you felt belittled. Well now you are _first_-at an abysmal, ill-contained mating flight!" M'hall snarled scathingly. "_First_ to have the most horrific mating flight in our short history of mating flights!" He turned on his heel to leave.

"It's all YOUR fault," Julie muttered, shooting M'hall a defiant, baleful stare.

"M-MY fault?" M'hall whirled back and grabbed the slight woman and shook her soundly. "YOU allowed your queen to feed! YOU allowed yourself to lose control of your dragon! YOU have been contentious and self-centered your whole life! I remember what you were like when we were kids! Always had to be first at everything. Always had to belittle the younger kids. I have NO IDEA how a dragon EVER found you acceptable!" And with that epithet, he shoved her away from him and turned on his heel and strode away.

Julie caught herself, then threw herself to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as she heard M'hall retreat.

At that moment, Torene, Uloa, Jean and their three dragons came out of _between_ to hover above the bowl. All the bronze dragons trumpeted mournfully to the queens and M'hall caught Torene's intense, pain-filled look. The three queens let off their riders and thrust off again to comfort and console their bronze counterparts on the rim of the volcano.

Torene took the three steps into M'hall's embrace and clasped him to her.

"What happened?!" Torene turned to include the other queen riders.

"I got the most confused images from Brianth, Hallath and Derwenth! A blue" and this was said on a squeak of incredulity, "flew Rementh?"

M'hall nodded curtly, "And I believe it was Dagmath. I also believe his rider, M'tin was engaging in his proclivity without regard to his poor beast, but I have to confirm that!"

Torene's eyes grew round as she absorbed that statement.

"Torene," Uloa stated flatly, "Call him in." Jean nodded, "We need to get the facts right now! And where is Julie?"

M'hall pointed to the prostrate figure near the entrance of the mating chamber.

Torene's eyes took on that unfocused look of one talking telepathically to another. She gasped. "Dagmath says M'tin can't come right now!" She snapped.

"We'll see about that!" the other queen riders and M'hall spoke as one. "Where is he?" M'hall rasped out.

Torene spoke to Dagmath. "In a dragonet's weyr with two other blue riders!" Torene's eyes grew wider yet, and then narrowed as she realized what she'd said. "Show me," She commanded aloud to her companions and telepathically to the blue dragon.

The group stormed into the Weyr, turned down a passage, turned again and then, fury lending wings to their feet, made down the corridor to the very end and flung open the weyrlings quarters' door.

The sight that greeted their eyes defied description. There was a mad scramble among the blankets, pillows and furs as the occupants tried to disengage and cover themselves.

"M'tin." M'hall snapped.

The young man stood tall and straight, but visibly flinched under the wrath he saw in his Weyrleader's eyes, his hastily donned blanket slipping off his shoulder. "Do you even know what has transpired while you...dallied around abed? M'hall asked, disgust written all over his face.

"Uh..." M'tin stuttered, looking at the accompanying Weyrwoman and queen riders who had turned away and now turned back to stare at the scene with bafflement, shock and disappointment. "No, I was pretty, um, involved," he stammered, shifting from foot to foot.

"Your blue engaged himself in a mating flight with Rementh," M'hall bit out savagely.

"So that's why you were so..." the younger lad stopped abruptly, put off by the quelling looks leveled at him by all the queen riders and his Weyrleader.

"You are confined to your OWN quarters except to take care of your dragons and for drills and Threadfall for the next 6 months. You will be on short rations for the next 2 weeks, and you will pull two shifts daily filling firestone sacks for the next year-ALL THREE OF YOU!" M'hall snarled before pinning each young man with a hard stare.

"Having dragons is a huge responsibility and you have failed miserably today," Torene said quietly.

Julie lay where she had crumpled and listened to the other queen riders and M'hall. She couldn't believe what had happened. She couldn't believe her wonderful golden queen had been flown by a BLUE dragon! She couldn't believe the other queen riders and the Weyrleader had turned and walked away and left her here! She couldn't believe M'hall had been so callous and unkind to her and said those scathing things! She couldn't believe...a mighty huff of air blew over her and she felt a nose touch her back. Rementh had made her way over to her rider, trying to break through the mental conflict that swirled so out of control in her rider's mind.

Julie sat up, wiping her eyes and hugging Rementh's foreleg. Rementh. Her Rementh. Who loved her unconditionally. She always understood. Julie got to her feet and glanced furtively around, then swiftly climbed onto Rementh's neck and gave her the command to fly.

_Where?_ Rementh asked.

_Anywhere! _Julie responded huffily.

Rementh remained earthbound, awaiting coordinates. Julie thought, and then envisioned a hold in the southern hemisphere. Her home Hold so she was especially vivid with the visualization.

_I have never been there_, Rementh said plaintively. _I don't see anywhere like that._

_Oh, all right! _Julie snapped, and visualized the lake above Ruatha Hold that Julie and Rementh had been to just a few weeks ago. Rementh gathered herself to fly and then settled back on her haunches.

_I cannot fly_ between_. I am too heavy with meat_. Rementh said quietly.

Julie pounded her fist on her queen's shoulder.

_Fine_, she snapped_. Just get me to the far side of the lake_.

Rementh gathered herself and leapt into the air, stroking the air with her large powerful wings, veering off to the northwest. As they flew over the Weyr, Julie saw several people look up and point. It was then that she saw the queenriders and M'hall stride out of the Weyr. Set, stern looks on their faces. She plastered a smile on her face and waved gaily, just as if she were out for a social call and hadn't just caused the most awkward incident the Weyr had ever experienced.

Torene and M'hall debated about telling Sorka and Sean and decided that it would be a precedent if they didn't divulge the happenings of the day. They mounted up and headed for Fort Weyr after Torene asked Alaranth if the pair were available.

Sean was livid with righteous indignation. "How that woman ever Impressed a dragon, and a queen at that, is beyond me!" he shouted. He leaped out of his chair and paced the length of the lower cavern table and back. "She has been a problem ever since she Impressed. Insisting that she could feed Rementh anything, anytime and not have a sick dragonet. Flouting instructions that other weyrlings took to heart. Missing lessons. Being late for lessons. She has been a bane to my existence for quite some time, but this, this really scorches it! If it weren't for the fact that her queen is necessary to the Weyr, I would banish Julie to some deserted island where she could do no harm to anyone!" Sean finally wound down and flopped down into the chair he had so recently vacated.

Sorka had been watching her husband and when he sat down she started her litany, "We had gotten complaints from the other weyrlings from the time Rementh was a dragonet, that Julie was shirking chores or demanding the other weyrlings do them because, she said, 'I have a queen dragon and you have to do what I say'. Sean and I were prompt in our attention to these complaints and spoke with Julie on a number of occasions. I think she acquiesced just to placate us. I now don't believe she really changed at all. She just behaved better. Still having it in her head that she was better than everyone else. I'm at a loss as to what can be done. Her queen is viable and necessary for the hatchlings she

will produce for us over the years. But she is becoming more and more insufferable."

"We can't shun her, like the folks at Landing did to that Tubberman guy," Sean said, "You need her to fly in the queen's wing during Threadfall. And we don't have enough queen dragons to forego that, nor should we, because I feel like that would just be pandering to her sense of being better than others, instead of the punishment that it is,"

Torene and M'hall agreed with Sean. "I think you're right, Sean," Torene said. "She would take it as a reduction of onerous duty, not a punishment."

"So, what do we do?" Sorka asked.

"Nothing, at the moment," Sean said, "There isn't anything we CAN do that will impinge upon her consciousness! She has such an overblown sense of self-worth."

"I can restrict her to her quarters, but I think she would enjoy that too much. Maybe I should require additional chores of her?" M'hall said, looking at his father, his leader. "Like maybe instead of just the domestic manager over at Benden, maybe she needs additional duties as well? But what?"

Sean began to grin diabolically. "How about putting her in charge of the next several batches of numbweed production," he said, "The entire production. Gathering the weed, boiling it down, adding the comfrey and valerian root and coating the pots!"

"She'd probably ruin it just to be spiteful!" Sorka said.

"So what?" M'hall said. "We have quite a lot on hand right now, and making her do it now, while it's coming on to summer's heat may have a demoralizing effect on her!"

"And make sure she understands that it is in addition to her Threadfall schedule, her duties to her dragon and her domestic duties. Plus," and here, Sean's grin grew wider, "tell her if she botches the numbweed production, she has to do it again!"

Torene's eyes lit up with an unholy gleam, "Oh, Sean, I think you have something there!" She laughed diabolically as M'hall turned to his wife with a wary expression. This is a side he had never seen in his beloved wife.

"You forget, my love, I have 3 older sisters who were constantly teasing me and roughing me up," Torene said with a grin, "I had to come up with ways to get back at them. Ways that Mama and Father wouldn't realize was from their littlest angel! Like spoiling their fruit pies with salt! And sticking their socks to the floor with that gummy stuff that Stores had and didn't know what to do with!"

M'hall looked at his wife with a pained expression on his face. He had several siblings himself and he didn't recall teasing them unmercifully or picking on them. In fact, he rather liked his brothers and sisters. Maybe it was because there were several years between him and his siblings. Whereas he thought Torene's siblings were closer in age.

"Your sisters. They are only a couple years older than you right?" M'hall asked, mostly to assure himself of his thinking.

"Yes. MayAnn is 367 days older than I am and Carolyn is 3 years older than MayAnn. Carolyn didn't tease and hound me nearly as much as MayAnn did. But sometimes they ganged up on me until my big brothers Ludol and Macky would drag them away or pick me up and run off with me. Having much older brothers was great! Wish I could have skipped the sisters…well, not really. They came in handy later!" Torene laughed.

"How so," her husband asked, although he was pretty sure he knew.

"They helped me be more popular in class because they were well liked and beautiful and clever, the kids all thought I would be the same—although really I wasn't," Torene said, grinning. "I was painfully shy when I was a little girl, and having MayAnn, the outgoing girl that she was, go through the grades before me, less was expected of me, I think," Torene tilted her head as she pondered the events of earlier years.

"Having been born on Earth and growing up here on Pern," Sorka said, "I missed all that. Because when we got here, everything was fresh and new and everyone was excited about learning all about Pern that those 'cliques' that girls all seem to develop in the upper grades wasn't as prevalent. Oh, we had them, but not quite so badly."

"Remember when you told me about Spacer Yvonne Yves?" Sean turned to his wife, "when you found me in the hydroponics area?" He had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Yes," Sorka said, then told her husband something she had never told him before, "I fell in love with you that day."

"What?" Sean asked, his eyebrows went up and an incredulous look came over his face.

"Yes," Sorka said, blushing just a bit and dropping her eyes before his gaze, "I just thought you were the most gorgeous boy I had ever met and hoped like crazy that I would see you again!"

"Okay," Sean said, "Enough about Julie. It's time to get my wife upstairs!" He laughed joyously like a young man, scooped up Sorka, who squealed softly and clung to his neck while he strode out of the dining room and headed for the stairs.

The newlyweds looked at each other, laughed gently and shook their heads.

"Goodbye, Weyrleader Sean and Weyrwoman Sorka," M'hall called after his parents, as they watched the older couple ascend the stairs.

Sorka waved to the pair of them and blew them a kiss, but she was near giddy with excitement for what was to come next for her.

M'hall and Torene called to their dragons and mounted when they landed in the caldera. They were grinning at each other like little kids. Their dragons hummed in resonance to the feelings of love and affection they felt from their riders.

M'hall gave the two dragons the coordinates, even though he could have just said "Take us home, Brianth, Alaranth."

9


	9. The Dragon Scare

AN: Sherri Smathers and Michael56Smith: Thank you so much for your kind words.

The Dragon Scare

Julie was in quite a rage after breakfast time some days later. She had just left the Weyrleaders' quarters and been told she was responsible for the next 4 batches of numbweed. This was her punishment for losing control of her dragon at the beginning of her mating flight.

Rementh heard Julie ordering the kitchen staff around. Rementh had been listening to Julie more than usual. Listening intently. The golden dragon was trying to discern what it was that bothered her about her rider. And she was coming to see that Julie was mean spirited. When Julie was in Rementh's presence, she was much lighter of heart and almost happy. But when the girl was only with other humans, Rementh could feel her animosity like it was a dagger.

"I don't want any excuses!" Julie shouted. "My rolls are cold and the butter won't melt if the rolls are cold!" This last was almost screamed. Rementh raised up just a little bit so she could see over the volcano's lip just as Julie knocked the plate of rolls out of Tarrie's hands with a wayward elbow. "Now look what you've done!" Julie snapped.

"Oh, never mind," she stormed as she shoved back her chair so hard it fell over backwards just as a young child ran by. The chair, a heavy wooden chair made from the indigenous trees of Pern, clipped the little girl on the shoulder and knocked her down. She was so startled that for a moment all she could do was try to breathe. Then she let loose with a high, blood-curdling scream. She lay where she had fallen, face down on the hard, volcanic rock floor, bleeding from knees, palms and chin.

Several women ran from the kitchen cavern, the girl's mother in the lead. Two dragonriders dashed in from the bowl of the volcano, and several others appeared from individual quarters.

"Well?" Julie asked. "You going to take this interfering little brat away and get some peace and quiet back?"

The little girl's mother, Deboreen, reached her daughter and helped her to her feet. She surveyed the poor little girl's bleeding face, scraped and bleeding hands and knees, took one step past her daughter to the frowning queen rider and straight-arm slapped her across the face.

The smack was so hard it spun the smaller woman around and knocked her into the upended chair, which she stumbled over, lost her balance and fell in a heap.

Julie clambered gracelessly to her feet and screamed one word at the top of her lungs, "REMENTH!" The two dragonriders gasped and yelled "NO!" just as Rementh settled into the cavern. She sat back on her tail and everyone in the cavern noticed how large the golden dragon was. How her teeth gleamed in the light filtering in from the outside and the cavern.

"And just what is Rementh answering a screamed summons for?" Torene asked from the hallway stairwell.

"She..she STRUCK me!" Julie spluttered. "How dare she strike a queen rider?"

"Just administering deserved justice," Torene said. She strode over to the men and women gathered there.

"I am so embarrassed and appalled about this queenrider's behavior," Torene said to Deboreen. "How is little Makayla?"

"WHAT?" Julie's voice rose incredibly high and shrill. "What about ME! I'M the wronged party here!"

"Not even close, Julie," Torene said evenly, her eyes snapping green ice, "Your dragon alerted me that you had summoned her to the Weyr dining room in a high state of agitation."

Julie's mouth dropped open. "Wha-?"

"Yes, Julie, I can hear every dragon, remember, or don't you remember anything that doesn't pertain to you!? Rementh feared for your sanity when you called her here with humans and no other dragons. She feared you meant to do these people harm, Julie. Was your dragon correct in her assessment of the situation? Did you indeed call your dragon here intent on harming someone?" Torene had walked right up to the diminutive queen rider and glared down at the older woman with a derisive expression on her face.

"I..I er, No. I called Rementh here to take me away from these…these landbound people," Julie ground out, waving her hand around the assembled people, her left cheek and ear vivid red with a handprint perfectly outlined.

"You probably weren't listening to Weyrleader Sean when he was explaining the genetics of our large aerial companions," Torene said, raising her voice a little so all the people gathered around could hear. "Kitti Ping did alter the brain chemistry of the little fire dragons in one area. She left self-preservation intact, but added a two-fold implant." She was watching Julie out of the corner of her eyes as she explained the safeguards to her Weyrfolk. "Dragons have to protect humans first, before themselves. And they are not allowed to harm us, either, whether ordered to do so or not." Torene said these last few words spaced out and clearly enunciated so there would be no doubt. By Julie or the people around her.

She watched as Julie's whole demeanor shrank in upon itself and the Weyrfolk breathed a collective sigh of relief. They all looked at Torene with greater respect and at Rementh with greater affection.

The golden dragon had sat still and quiet during the entire conversation between Julie and Torene. Now, she tilted her head and uttered a little murmur of sound, as if agreeing with what Torene had just said.

Deboreen had picked up Makayla and the little girl was snuggled into her mama's shoulder. Deboreen took her to the kitchen hearth to clean up the little girl. Several of the women turned to go with them.

The dragonriders returned to their tasks, secure in the knowledge that Julie would be punished.

The few people who remained, seemingly uninterestedly, waited to see what else the young Weyrwoman had in store for the queen rider.

Julie sat down in another chair, tossing her hair disdainfully over her shoulder.

"Julie," Torene said slowly and thoughtfully, "what you did today was inexcusable. What you TRIED to do was unconscionable. Your dragon is not a weapon to be used as you see fit. She fights Thread. She enlarges the dragon population base. Period. There must be something terribly wrong with your psyche, Julie, if you wanted to do harm to these people after the way you treated little Makayla. I want you to go see Greta and Bichárd. Maybe they can find a way to help you."

Then she, too, sat down, but continued to look at Julie, "This incident isn't closed. But it will take more than M'hall and me to figure out a suitable punishment. This will need to be handled by all the people of the Weyr."

Julie sat, staring at a point in the distance, seemingly not listening. Then she slowly got out of her chair, walked across the cavern floor, climbed up her dragon's proffered foreclaw, and settled herself behind the 2nd neck ridge.

Rementh spread her wings and lifted off from the floor of the volcano and disappeared.

With huge sighs all around, the women got up from their seats and converged on Torene, discretion forgotten.

"What's going to happen now?" Tarrie asked.

"Are you really going to allow all of us to decide what punishment Julie should get? asked Verona, Tarrie's younger sister.

"Wow," said another voice, "Was she really going to sic her dragon on us?"

"I'm not sure what Julie was thinking," Torene addressed the last question first, "her dragon told me her rider's mind was a frenetic mass of chaos," Torene looked at each woman surrounding her. These were good people. Kind, friendly, industrious. They needed to be reassured. They needed to know that Julie was behaving in an aberrant behavior. That dragonriders were their protectors and dragons their 'knights' chargers.' Not their adversaries.

Torene had a sudden inspiration.

"Would you like to meet Alaranth?" She asked the women, watching them carefully. Most of them looked excited but a little trepidatious. Tarrie nodded eagerly, "Yes, Torene," she said, "Let's go meet Alaranth and Porth!"

Tarrie turned to the others, "You really do need to see them up close and personal. Feel their soft skin and see how strong but fragile-looking their wings are!"

The younger women in the group gathered around Torene and Tarrie, while the older women had to be coaxed a little.

Deboreen with Makayla had returned to the tables and Torene dropped gracefully to one knee to be at eye level with Makayla. "Would you like to meet my dragon, Makayla?" She studied the little girl and noticed no hesitation when Makayla nodded excitedly, her eyes big with joy.

"Well, all right then!" Torene took Makayla's hand in hers, rose to her feet and led the small group out through the entrance of the volcano. Deboreen had Makayla's other hand, and she watched her little girl as a shiver of sheer delight shook her little frame.

"You remember that we can talk to our dragons telepathically, right?" Torene asked the women walking with her, "well that's what we are doing right now. It's kinda like talking to yourself, but you hear a response in your head, although you aren't the speaker." Both dragonriders closed their eyes and spoke to their dragons. Torene asked Alaranth to tell ALL the listeners that Torene had asked them to come and visit with them, and that she, Alaranth, would like to give Makayla a ride.

The assembled women and girls gasped aloud in wonder as the two beautiful golden dragons spiraled down and landed gracefully a short way from the group. They settled back on their haunches and folded their wings carefully onto their backs.

Makayla had a huge smile on her face and was bouncing up and down in anticipation. Deboreen put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and said, "Honey you need to settle down."

_The little one is fine_. Deboreen heard a voice in her head and her eyes widened in surprise and wonder. She turned her gaze to Torene. Torene nodded, grinning, her face lighting up with pride.

Torene had asked Alaranth to speak to Deboreen, and Torene had heard what had been said.

The golden dragon lowered her head to Makayla. Deboreen gasped quietly as her little girl leaped at the muzzle so close to her. The dragon hummed gently and lifted the little girl off her feet and held her out to her mother.

"Thank you, Alaranth," Deboreen said softly as she took her reluctant daughter off the face of the beautiful dragon.

"She likes to have her eye ridges scratched," Torene said and glanced over to see how Tarrie and her group were doing. Tarrie's queen, Porth, had settled down on her chest and stretched her nose out for many pats and eye ridge scratchings. She had a bemused look on her draconic face and hummed with pleasure.

Deboreen lifted her hand to above the great gold dragon's eye and gently scratched the eye ridge. She gasped and dropped her hand when the dragon's eyelid half closed. "Oh!" She said, "She really does like it scratched!" And she lifted her hand to the eye ridge again, scratching the folded skin there. The great golden dragon leaned into the touch and hummed with pleasure.

"I wanna do it, I wanna do it!" Makayla said, jumping up and down.

Torene lifted her up and let her scratch Alaranth's left eye ridge.

"Oh! What was that!?" Makayla asked, drawing back a little to get a better look at the dragon's face.

"That is Alaranth's third eyelid," Torene said, "It films the eye automatically when she is flying to keep dust and debris out of her eyes. It is also a reflex mechanism when she is very relaxed and happy, like she is right now!"

"This is…just wonderful, Torene!" Verona breathed, a wide smile on her lovely face. She had her cheek against Alaranth's cheek, just below the dragon's eye. Alaranth's eyelids were drooped over her eyes, her ears were loose on the sides of her head. "She looks totally relaxed."

"She is, Verona, she is" Torene agreed.

Later, when Torene went back to her quarters, M'hall was sitting at the table with Jess. Both had a glass of quikal in their hands and both were quietly talking. The talk ceased as Torene entered the room, and she wondered what they had been talking about. She smiled at them both, and bent down to kiss M'hall on the cheek.

"I'm headed for the bathing room. Had a long day and need a long soak, so don't let me disturb your chat," Torene said quietly, "Good to see you, Jess. Hope you are holding up."

"I'm doing…well, I guess. My heart is sore for L'ren and B'ref's families. And you know that Beralas is carrying L'ren's child, right?" Jess said with a heavy heart.

"Yes," Torene said, "Beralas and I talked about it and I assured her that her extended family here in the Weyr will help her take care of her baby, just as the women take care of the Fort babies. The same will happen here when I start having babies," Torene smiled wanly. "I so want Beralas to be happy here, but I'm not sure she will be able to stay here with all her memories of L'ren here. She might feel better going back to Fort or moving up to Telgar Weyr."

"You know, Torene, I hadn't even thought of her maybe having to move to enjoy life again," Jess said sorrowfully. "I love the girl like she was my own daughter, but I missed that entirely."

"That's okay, Jess," Torene said, "Women seem more in touch or in tune or in sync with other women than men are. It's nothing to beat yourself up over."

Jess nodded thoughtfully, then M'hall asked, "Have you heard about Norabelle?"

Jess and Torene both shook their head.

"There has been no change, and Kristo still won't declare his feelings for her," M'hall said. "I spoke with Dessi earlier today when I was down getting some lunch."

"That's not good," Torene said, "Nora seems to be drifting further and further away! Why isn't Kristo saying anything?"

Jess said, "I think he's scared. He's never declared his feelings for any one but Nora, and her father rebuffed him. He's got a lot of trepidation in his heart."

"Trepidation!?" Torene scoffed, "What is there to be worried about!? He loves her, right? He declared his love before and although Nora's _father _said no, Nora hasn't had a chance to respond! That, to me, is cowardly. He won't ask the question because he's afraid of the answer?" Torene's eyes grew darker with aggravation. "If Nora had been awake and alert, he would have had his answer in a heartbeat!" Torene said as she shook her head, her smashed flat curls coming to exuberant life and bouncing around.

Jess looked at those curls and then over at M'hall. He knew as surely as night was falling, M'hall wanted to be alone with his gorgeous wife.

"Well, we can knock him in the head tomorrow and cart him in to Nora's room after breakfast," Jess said, rising to his feet. He grinned at M'hall and leered at Torene, "Tomorrow then."

M'hall got to his feet, too. An answering smile on his face that Torene totally missed, since she was smiling at Jess.

She leaned out and gave the older man a hug and said, "Enjoy your evening, Jess, wherever it may lead you." She kissed his cheek as he backed out of her arms and with a lascivious grin at M'hall, took his leave.

M'hall turned to Torene and said, "I believe you were heading for the bathing room for a soak?" He inquired with a quirk to his eyebrow. She nodded slowly and led him through the partition and into the bathing room.

8


	10. A Visit to the Anwells

Chapter 10

DYEING AND LOOMING

colloquialisms

Sherilayn looked at the man standing in her doorway and smiled. She stepped back and gestured for him to come in.

"Joel Lillienkamp," she said, her contralto voice warm with affection, "How are you these days? It has been awhile since we have last seen each other!"

"So it has, Sheri, so it has," Joel said jovially, kissing the lovely woman on the cheek. "I see you are still having babies." He nodded to the little crawler headed his way from the far side of the room. "What number is this little guy?" he asked.

"He is number sixteen," Sherilayn chuckled, "He is just under a year and about to take off," she smiled and said, "and his name is Paul Anwell."

Joel felt his eyes sting with tears as they always did when friends named their children, their Weyrs, or their homesteads after his dear friend, Admiral Paul Benden.

To cover his emotion, he picked up the beautiful tow-headed child and settled him on his hip to look at him. The little boy looked at him solemnly, then chortled and grabbed at Joel's bristling eyebrows. Joel avoided the hand and lifted the boy up and blew raspberries onto his bare little belly.

The baby erupted into giggles and wiggles and Joel nearly lost control of the squirmy little guy.

"Whoa!" he said, "Let's not lose you to the floor, okay?" He swooped close to the floor and let the little boy settle onto a mat near his mother's feet. Sherilayn motioned to a seat at the long table and picked the boy up, sat him in his chair and pulled the fur ties around him to secure him in his chair. She put a plate of cut up fruit and vegetables in front of him. He immediately started hand-to-mouthing it. Sherilayn brought some freshly squeezed fruit juice and a pile of pastries to the table then set an empty cup and plate in front of her old friend.

"The dragonriders from Benden Weyr were here to search for candidates," Sherilayn said. "Had you heard?"

"Yes," Joel said, "word gets around. Not as quickly as when we had communicators, but with dragons listening in, we do get news spread around."

Sherilayn grinned. "Did you also hear that all four of Anwell's children that were Searched are now dragonriders?" she asked mischievously. She knew that he had not been all that involved with the dragons, having to handle the day to day running of the rest of the planet, especially when they had been relocating north.

"All four? Congratulations!" Joel said.

"It isn't all good news. One of Benden's queens and two bronze dragons were killed when struck by lightning during a mating flight not more than a few weeks before the hatching," Sherilayn said sadly.

"I had heard that. It is very sad to lose the dragons and the dragonriders," Joel said. He filled his cup with the juice and realized his mouth was watering as he picked up two petite pastries drizzled with icing.

"How is it you have been able to make icing?" Joel asked, "Doesn't that require sugar?" He sank his teeth into the wonderfully flaky sweet pastry.

"We have that bog in the valley and found a plant very similar to sugar cane. It's quite fibrous, so of course after we extract the sweet, I beat it into submission and weave it," Sherilayn said, "It's not quite as fine as linen, but it makes for a nice fabric."

"Ah, my weaver," Joel said, "Which is why I am here. I've got several ladies and a coupla men who want to branch out from sewing and add weaving to their repertoire of talents."

"Perfect," Sheri said, "I've been needing to get these last little ones taught their basics and with fall coming on, I've got all the work I can handle with preserving and drying food for the winter, getting the dyes prepared from the produce we've gathered and getting the cloth dyed. Do these folks want to join me here or do I gather up all my equipment and take it to Fort?

"Well," Joel paused, "the ladies, and there are six, want to come here. Your reputation precedes you." Joel chuckled. "And the men don't care where. So even though we had an empty pod for you and your equipment, it looks like class can convene here, if you want."

"That will be just fine," Sherilayn said, "Do any of the ladies have daughters that are at a loose end and want to earn some credits teaching my youngest three some basic math?" Sherilayn asked, raising a delicately arched eyebrow.

"I'm not sure, but I think Mairi Hanrahan's second daughter wants to do that and Cara Telgar wants to assist. Mairi wants to send her youngest two here or take your youngest four to RuAtha, along with a couple of others," Joel had finished one of the sweet pastries in front of him and reached for the second.

"Mine!" Paul yelled from his seat, holding out his hands and tapping his fingers together, "Mine!"

Sherilayn turned to the little boy and held up her hand with the back of the hand facing him, fingers spread.

The little boy dropped his hands and bowed his head. He peeked up at his mother. Her thumb was gone. Paul raised his head. Next, Sherilayn's index finger went down. He sat up straight and looked at Joel, then at his mother. Her middle finger was down.

"I sorry," the little boy said distinctly. He looked at Sherilayn again. She was smiling and her 4th finger went down.

"I sorry I yell" Paul finished up. He watched as his mother's hand went down. Joel was watching the interplay between the two and knew he was seeing something rather unique.

"Thank you, Paul," Sherilayn said, smiling happily at her little boy. "Would you like a pastry now?" she asked Paul.

"Yiss, mama" Paul answered with a hesitant smile. His mother put a pastry on a little plate and set it down in front of him. His smile widened into a grin. "Dankou, mama."

After they had finished their snack, Sherilayn changed the baby and put him down in a pile of blankets. Joel thought sure the little guy would just crawl out and go his own way, but he snuggled down into the blankets, put his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes. He was asleep in minutes.

"Now, we can talk," Sherilayn said quietly, "Who all wants to come? Anyone I know?

"Let me see," Joel said as he pulled a worn top-bound little notebook out of his breast pocket, "The ladies are Ju Adjai Benden, Jan Ragan, Barr Henson, Yashma, Theo Force-Tillek, and Deboreen Pullman. The men are Gene Glick and Thandle Daly."

"Gene will hopefully bring Mary with him," Sheri said, "Mary has been here several times since we moved her up here from Landing after Ted died. She is definitely doing better now that she has remarried. Gene is so good with her. But she still feels a loyalty to Ted that I just don't understand. The man was a pig!"

Joel settled back in his chair in surprise. This was a side of Sheri he didn't think he'd seen in her before. He looked at Sheri closely. She looked ill at ease after her outburst.

"Did Ted, uh, on board the _Yokohama_, did he ever..." Joel wasn't really sure how to continue. Sheri looked upset.

"Yes, Joel, he did," Sheri said quietly, "I hate to speak ill of the dead, but he was a womanizing ass. And how anyone _ever_ found their way into his bed is beyond me. He tried that smooze charade of his on me when we were stuck in that dinky lab and I had to lay him out."

Sheri looked at Joel with a plea in her eyes. "Anwell doesn't know. I knew if I told him, Ted would have been more than laid out, he'd have been dead. Anwell may be small, but he does not put up with much. And Tubberman laying his dirty paws on me would have gotten him killed if Anwell had known!"

"Your secret is safe with me," Lillienkamp said, "But you said you had to lay him out. What did you mean?" There was a trace of a gleam in Joel's eyes.

"Just what it sounds like it means!" Sherilayn said, drawing herself up to her full height. "I laid that buzzard out on the floor in one sweep kick behind the knees!"

Joel chortled with glee, but quickly shut it off when Sheri gestured to the sleeping Paul. The baby stirred and quieted. Joel heaved a big sigh of relief.

"He sleeps through most things, but it's been quiet and a whoop like that _might_ have startled him awake, you are a lucky dog," Sheri said, grinning, as Paul rolled over and fell deeper asleep.

Joel shook his head, "I would have loved to have seen that!"

"I'll bet you would" Sheri said. She gathered up their dishes and set them in the sink and began to set the long table for the midday meal.

Joel had noticed a delicious smell emanating from the area near the oven. And then he noticed the fresh little bread buns cooling on the hearth table. He realized it was getting on to lunch time.

"Anwell coming in shortly?" he asked. She nodded. He decided to hang around long enough to see the oldtimer, if he wasn't invited to lunch, which he probably was going to be.

"I told Gene and Mary that you hadn't been able to travel at the time of their wedding. That you were pregnant at the time and couldn't take the dragon ride. I'm pretty sure I was correct," Joel smiled widely, "I opened a book on whether or not you would have twins again. You let me down!" He chuckled. "You had triplets!"

Sherilayn grinned. "Anwell's huge family in the Deep South on Earth had several sets of triplets. Very rare. They even had a couple sets of quads, but they didn't survive. Twins run on my side of the family, close up and quite frequently in the family tree. So we were bound to have one or the other! And you were right, I was pregnant. I'm sure they got the wedding presents we sent," Sheri said, "The girls and I made an entire set of matching sheets and towels. The new fiber makes wonderful sheeting and when looped makes excellent toweling."

The door of the dwelling opened and the diminutive man of the household, Anwell, came in, removing his boots at the entry. He glanced across at Sherilayn and Joel, "Thot dat wuz a flatender's hoss in ma pens!" Anwell chortled quietly, showing his graying yellowish teeth in a toothy smile.

"I wuz jes sayin' ta m'self, I sez 'Anwell, ainit 'bout tam I seen Lilkamp?' An' thar ya be!" The small man made his way over to the table where his wife and friend were and gave Joel Lillienkamp a smart clap on the shoulder. Joel grimaced. Short Anwell may be, weak he certainly was not! The clap on the shoulder stung like he'd been hit with a twenty pound chunk of plascrete!

Joel stood and turned to Anwell and they clasped forearms, then leaned into each other for a short, swift hug. More than enough display for manly men such as themselves.

"You didn't say you had ridden here, Joel Lillienkamp!" Sherilayn said, shaking her finger at him.

"Of course I didn't tell you! he said, "and I wish Anwell here hadn't said anything, either! I didn't want you watching me ride off! It's been years since I've been a-horseback!"

"I know," Sheri said, grinning wickedly, "that's why I am going to watch you ride off! See if you still remember HOW!"

"Izzat one o' dem 'walkin' hosses Red ben yippin' 'bout?" Anwell asked Joel, bypassing the banter between his wife and his old friend.

"Yes," Joel said, turning to Anwell, "Red has been breeding racing stock, but also has a line of what he calls 'pacers.' They are really smooth walking horses. They have a sloping rear end very different than his runners. Very nice riding horses."

"Wahl, gud fer Red. Allus did tink he got hisself fine hosses," Anwell said, then turned to his wife, "Wutter we eatin' Sheri-luv?"

"We've got venison stew, greens and fresh bread and butter," Sherilayn said, reaching into the blankets and finding young Paul, who had awakened and was just starting to squirm up out of the blankets.

"How you keeping yourself, Anwell?" Joel asked.

"Middlin' middlin'," Anwell responded, "Gots me some plots o' land out in dem woods dat 'r jis brislin' wid grubs. Ya'll git yerself a hanful o' dem grubs un takem ta Benden. Dat dere win feller, Mal-bow, heel need dem."

Joel was listening closely to follow Anwell's vernacular. He checked Sherilayn with a quick glance. She nodded. He then told Anwell what he thought he had heard; "Take me a handful o' yore grubs when I leave and give them to the winemaker, Rene Mallibeau. They will help his vineyards? I mean, I will take a handful of your grubs!" He laughed at his own lack of syntax in his first utterance.

Anwell grinned toothily and nodded vigorously, "Yous gotsit!" He sat down at the head of the table and Sherilayn laid a fresh plate in front of him and added some fruit and a couple thick slices of bread. She also handed him a cup of the fruit juice.

The doorway to the bedroom wing of the caves was a large stitched together hanging of beautiful gray fox skins and it swung aside to admit the four younger Anwell children, fresh from their morning naps. Their faces were all shiny and damp from the dousing they had been given and the three boys' hair was all tousled from sleep. The slightly older boy had brushed his hair back into a club at the nape of his neck and tied it with string.

They came across the floor about the same time the Hold door opened again, and everyone converged on the table, picking up bread buns and cups along the way.

"Bran, take Paul for me, sweetie, and get him cleaned up for lunch," Sheri spoke to the 3rd oldest of the Anwell children, a lovely willowy girl of sixteen who looked very similar to her mother. Bran took the little boy by the hand and led him out of the room to get changed and washed up for lunch.

"You staying to lunch, Jim?" Sherilayn asked the wiry gray-haired septuagenarian, as she began ladling up the stew, "we've plenty and you're welcome to stay."

"Sit! Sit! Sit!" the old man encouraged his friend, "They's be plenny!"

"Had planned on it," Joel chuckled, "I don't start out this late in the morning for any other reason than having lunch with you two!"

"My attendees," Sherilayn asked, "are they wanting to learn weaving from the very beginning or just from the loom onward?"

"My understanding is they all want to learn from the ground up," Joel said, looking over at Sheri. "That's not quite the right term is it? It's more like 'from the critter onward.'"

Sherilayn laughed. "Well, it depends. We have the 'critters,' and we have the 'harvested,'" she said.

"Daddy and Dane have been harvesting the cane crop down in the marshy land and Mother's been soaking the woody parts of the stems and it has been weaving quite nicely into almost a linen or bamboo cloth," Denai said, as she helped her mother with the triplets. They were 4 year old boys, tall but not quite tall enough to sit at the table in regular chairs, so they had boosters under them.

"The color is a little off for bamboo, though," Bran said, as she returned with little Paul and settled him into his highchair with the fur straps tucked around him.

"Would you like some buttermilk, Joel?" Sherilayn asked as she was filling the cups of her children.

He looked over at her, then at Anwell. "Buttermilk? You're kidding! Real honest-to-goodness buttermilk?" he asked.

Anwell was nodding while continuing to eat. Food was serious business for Anwell. Had been all of his youth in the Southern Amalgamated States, which had been mostly poor even after being amalgamated with the other southern states. With twenty younger siblings in his family, food was never plentiful and never wasted.

Now, although food was much more plentiful for him and his family, through the efforts of himself, Sherilayn and the older children, nothing was ever wasted.

"Yes," Sherilayn said, "We have cattle, we have milking cows, we have milk and buttermilk. We have a natural spring that keeps the milk and buttermilk chilled"

"Yes, please!" Joel said, he licked his lips in anticipation. It had been years since he had had a cup of buttermilk.

4


	11. Rementh's Clutch

10\. Rementh's Clutch

Rementh touched Julie in the dark of a very early morning and said, _I don't feel well._ Julie stirred, got up and went through the partition to her dragon.

_I think you must be close to clutching,_ Julie thought to her golden queen dragon. _The timing is about right. We need to get you down to the Hatching Ground._

_But the Hatching Ground is very…open_. Rementh said meekly. _I don't want to go there_.

_Don't be ridiculous!_ Julie admonished harshly. _You have every right to be there! YOU are a queen of Benden Weyr!_

Julie encouraged her queen to get up and go to the ledge of their weyr. The intervening weeks had not been kind to Julie and Rementh, with the constant whispering and the quickly terminated conversations as the two came into view.

The outright shunning the weyrfolks had subjected Julie to had made her temper just that much more unpredictable and she was snapping at Rementh over little things, like getting Julie wet when Rementh shook out her wings after her bath. And smacking her queen's nose when the dragon followed her too closely and touched her nose to Julie's back, or bumped into Julie's heels.

M'hall had taken his father's advice and pushed Julie onto the more onerous chores, like gathering the plants required to make numbweed and doing the bulk of the cooking down required to make the numbing ointment all Pern used for aches, pains and wounds. He reiterated to her over and over that if she were to botch it, she would be responsible for making ALL of the numbweed, instead of the biggest share. It had almost not been worth it, because after the boiling down and cooling and storing away, Julie took to her bed for nearly a week with 'exhaustion.' And during that week, missed one Threadfall, which had upset her dragon.

She put her domestic team in a dither because she had not alerted them to the fact that she would not be planning and supervising the cooking and therefore two meals had been delayed and there had been a rush to get everyone fed.

After the week off, Julie had just remained sequestered and the weyrfolk had left her strictly alone. She simply refused her duties as Queenrider and domestic manager and only came out of her quarters for meals and to give Rementh a bit of exercise.

From the ledge of their weyr, Julie stepped onto her queen's forepaw and settled behind the second neck ridge. The pair dropped off the cavern ledge and glided down to the cavern floor.

The lower caverns were still dark, although bread was rising on the tables near the kitchen hearths. The Hatching Grounds were deserted and shadowed and quiet in the early morning mistiness.

Julie slid off and stepped onto the warm hatching sands, Rementh right beside her. The dragon paced awkwardly on all four feet, staring around at the large grounds. _It's very large, isn't it_, she said quietly and meekly to Julie. She made for the back wall where there was a small raised stone platform. It, too, was covered with warm sand. _I like it back here_. The queen snuffled the sands and slowly sank to her belly, shifting back and forth a bit to get comfortable. She curled her tail around her body and settled her head onto her forelegs. Julie leaned on her queen's shoulder and scratched her under the jaw. The dragon tipped her head a bit so more of her jaw was exposed to Julie's soothing hands.

A short time later, a little shudder shook the queen. Then a short time later, another little shudder shook the golden queen. This continued for quite some time, with several minutes between shutters. Sometime later, Julie looked behind Rementh and saw a pile of eggs behind the queen.

"Shouldn't there be more?" Julie asked her queen, remembering Alaranth's forty-one.

_No_. Rementh's voice sounded softly in Julie's head. _That's all there are_. Rementh buried her head down between her forepaws, reacting to her rider's censorious tone.

"But, they're so small!" Julie exclaimed. "I don't understand!"

"Understand this, Julie," Torene growled into her ear, seeming to appear out of thin air. She grasped the other girl's upper arm in a tight grip, "you are upsetting your dragon. You are demeaning your queen and making light of her accomplishment!"

"Now QUIET!" M'hall mouthed softly from Julie's other side, "or start being joyous. This is your beautiful queen's clutch!" And he gave her right upper arm a tight squeeze.

M'hall and Torene let go of Julie, smiling widely at the queen, patting her reassuringly on the forelegs.

_I hear _Rementh said in Torene's mind. _Why are there so few and why are they so small? They look like feathered creature eggs. _ The golden queen's eyes were beginning to whirl orange with agitation.

"They are fine," Torene soothed. "They are fine. You did wonderful, Rementh."

_I feel something is wrong_. Rementh turned from her rider to Torene._ The feelings that hit me from other riders, other people, are raging, roiling, painful. What have I done to upset so many?_

"Nothing, Rementh. YOU have done NOTHING wrong!" Torene said to the dragon, looking her full in the eye and placing a loving hand on the side of the queen's face. "Now that you have completed your task, maybe you would like to eat?" Torene asked Rementh, trying to distract her from the Hatching Grounds and its' meager contents.

"Yes," said Julie, brightening her countenance and straightening up. "A nice meal and a bath for the both of us!" She smiled sunnily at both Weyrwoman and Weyrleader, took Rementh by an ear and led her towards the cavern opening. The beautiful golden dragon, whose color had faded a bit with despondency, turned and headed out with her rider. She glanced back at Torene and M'hall, lifting her head away from her rider and spreading her wings, balanced herself upright.

Rementh continued out of the cavern and Julie turned right, going on into the food preparation and eating area. Julie sat down and waited for someone to notice that she had sat down, which was not the norm. The norm was 'serve yourself,' but Julie insisted that being a queenrider should have perks.

Deboreen saw Julie sit down and her innate good manners refused to let the queenrider just sit. She walked out of the preparation area and up to Julie's table.

"What can I get you, Julie?" Deboreen asked. Julie ignored her.

"Would you like me to get you something to eat?" Deboreen asked politely, although the other woman's demeaner was irritating.

Julie continued to ignore her, looking off toward the kitchen area, wishing someone, anyone else would come.

"Julie," Deboreen said, "You are not the wronged party here. I am being nothing but polite. All you have to do is open your mouth and tell me what you want to eat." Deboreen waited patiently and Julie continued to ignore her.

They both heard the death cry of a wherry and knew that Rementh had killed and was eating. Julie immediately felt a little less hungry. She stood up, still ignoring Deboreen, and went to the hearth where a big kettle hung and served herself some soup. She then went to the side table where pans of bread lay covered and cut herself a thick slice, smearing it with the butter that sat nearby.

Deboreen swallowed the angry sigh that had almost escaped her lips, turned calmly on her toes and went back into the prep area to continue the pies she was making. Tarrie glanced up from her task, looked out into the dining area, caught Deboreen's eye, shook her head resignedly and rolled her eyes.

"Consider yourself lucky," Tarrie said quietly, "that you didn't get snarled at."

Deboreen's eyes grew misty, nodded, and was thinking about Makayla's bruised and bloody chin, scraped knees and palms and how the little girl had asked her why the "dragonlady" didn't like her. How hard it had been to tell her that some people were just like that. Not caring about others. When there were others, like Tarrie, Torene, M'hall and Sorka, to name a few, who were dragon folk and got along with everyone!

Dessi came out of the mating chamber with Kristo at her heels. They had been arguing again about what Kristo should be telling Nora.

Janin Bergonin had been by to see his daughter several times, and was baffled at Kristo's reticence, too. He had left his daughter in the care of the people who had grown to know her best, but he was worried about her. He felt, as did Dessi, that if Kristo would declare his love openly, then Nora might be able to come out of her coma.

"But what if she doesn't care for me like I care for her," Kristo was saying as they reached the tables.

"Yes, Kristo, that is a risk you have to face," Dessi said yet again.

Torene looked at Kristo. She had been introduced to him, but didn't know much about him except that he was a good man with metal. He seemed earnest about Nora, but apparently, he wasn't sure how Nora felt about him.

"What if, by refraining from telling her of your love for her, you are keeping her trapped in her mind?" Torene asked. She looked up at the handsome man, tilting her head slightly as she examined him. He seemed to be of strong character, and his face wore a perplexed frown of worry.

"You are worried that she doesn't have as intense feelings for you as you have for her," Torene continued, "But how will you know unless you tell her first? Someone has to go first, you know. And Nora can't voice her feelings until she is awake."

Kristo sat down heavily, putting his head in his hands.

"Remember this, Kristo," Dessi said, "You declared your feelings for her before she was Searched. It was her father who sent you away before she could respond. It wasn't Nora. Her father thought she was too young. You've never given Nora a chance to respond."

"I know, I know!" he cried, lifting his head up out of his hands. His face was an anguished, teary mess.

"I have spent the last year and a half telling myself she doesn't love me the way I love her!" he cried, "and now I have the chance and my head keeps getting in the way of my heart!" He was crying in earnest now.

Torene stood up abruptly. "GO!" she ordered peremptorily, pointing her finger towards the mating chamber, "Go NOW!"

Her abrupt order and stern figure startled everyone at the table, including her husband, who looked at his gentle wife in consternation and surprise.

Kristo's eyes flew to Torene's and something in the depths of her grey-green eyes induced Kristo to get to his feet and he nearly ran to the room where his beloved lay.

He threw the door open and rushed to her side.

"Nora! NORA! I LOVE YOU! I love you with all my heart and all my soul and I'm sorry for doubting your love!" Kristo wailed. He leaned down and engulfed Nora in a hug. He was sobbing, his shoulders heaving with his great breaths of air he was trying to take in while sobbing so hard.

"Nora! Nora, oh Norabelle. I'm so sorry! I love you! I'm so sorry! Nora, I love you!" he repeated over and over as he held her in his arms, "I'm so sorry, Norabelle. I do love you! I love you with all my heart"

"Why are you sorry?" a whispery, muffled voice asked.

"Oh, Nora, I love you! I should have told you right away, I.."

"Kristo" Torene said. She had to speak a little louder, "Kristo!"

The man lowered the woman in his arms back to the bed and turned his head questioningly to Torene.

"Why are you sorry?" the slightly scratchy, whispery voice asked again,

Kristo jerked back in surprise and stared down at Norabelle.

"You're awake! You're awake! When did you awaken? How are you? Are you hungry? Should I get you something to eat or drink?" Kristo continued to ask his questions, "Do you want to sit up? What can I do for you?"

"Kristo," Torene said laughingly, "be quiet and let the girl talk!"

Kristo took a deep, shuddering breath and sat down next to Nora, her hand in his.

"Why are you sorry?" Nora asked again, in that long unused voice, struggling to sit up.

Dessi and Kristo, one on each side, lifted Nora's shoulders off the pillow and Tarrie pushed a few pillows on top so Nora could sit up better.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you I loved you the moment that I got here," Kristo said.

"I've been waiting," Nora rasped quietly, "But I couldn't figure out why you were here if it wasn't to tell me something important."

Torene had filled up Nora's glass with sweet juice and handed it to Kristo. The gesture was kind of like, _I told you so_, but gentler. Kristo looked up at Torene with tears in his eyes, and merely nodded. He leaned in and handed the juice to Nora, who couldn't handle the weight of the glass. Kristo quickly took it back from her and gently placed it against her lips like he had been for the past several weeks.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, as the weyr folks around him, grinned and melted from the room.

7


	12. Babies and Other Things

11 Babies and Other Things

It was late afternoon when Jess caught up with Beralas. They had both been fighting Threadfall but in different areas. Jess had flown. Beralas, since she was pregnant and wanting to keep her child, was relieved of fighting Thread, which often required going _between_ several times per Fall. Instead, she had been on the ground helping Dru and Tarrie with triage in the area set up for first aid for wounded dragons and riders.

It was Beralas' fourth time assisting with first aid instead of flying, and she wasn't sure she made a good nurse. She still had problems when the poor dragons came flying in at all angles, whistling with pain.

Beralas had gotten to see Jean and Uloa in action as a team when they brought in Eveneth with rider Gentelly. Eveneth had missed a small tangle of Thread and it caught in her tail. She thought she could shake it loose while still fighting, but it just got worse. Gentelly finally figured out something was wrong and she was trying to force her beloved green into _between_ when Uloa saw how badly Eveneth was hurt. Uloa had called Jean, her partner in catching dragons, and they slid Eveneth onto Greteth's back and brought her to the triage area.

Beralas had almost been sick when she saw how much of Eveneth's tail was missing. It was a wonder the little dragon could fly at all.

Gentelly had bailed off Eveneth's back before the pair had barely landed the smaller green dragon, and calling for numbweed, had begun slathering the wonderfully soothing gel onto her dragon's score marks and around the tail wound by the time the medical team arrived.

Beralas had to turn her back on the stitching part. She just couldn't bear watching the needle go in and out of the dragon's skin without thinking of her own sweet Magath. Thankfully, nothing like that had ever happened to Magath, and she didn't want it ever to.

Sometimes the four-hour falls seemed to take forever to get through and today was one of those days. She had helped Tarrie with three other Thread scores, none of them nearly as bad as Eveneth's tail, but very hard to look at nonetheless.

"How can you watch this? How can you so calmly clean out these horrible wounds?" She cried to Tarrie. Tarrie rounded on her from where she was cleaning out yet another wound.

"Honey, if _we_ don't cleanse them, and _we_ know what we're doing, how can we know if they will heal properly?" Tarrie asked her kindly. The girl had seen some horrible wounds this past day and Tarrie was sure she was at about the end of her endurance. "Why don't you check with Deboreen about getting our riders some fruit juice and water. They always tend to their dragons before even taking a drink, and some of our riders are really parched." Beralas nodded and turned away thankfully. She didn't feel like she was shirking her duty. She knew she had done her best as did Tarrie.

She found Deboreen at the covered table giving out drinks and sending drinks with the children of the weyr to those riders who wouldn't leave their dragons. Deboreen said she had plenty of help. The Fall was actually over and Deboreen sent her back to the triage area to finish clearing away tables and washing implements to be returned to the clinic. She was cleaning up her station when Jess found her.

"Beralas, honey," Jess said softly, "I haven't had a chance to see you alone and tell you how sorry I am about L'ren…" his voice trailed off as Beralas flung herself into his arms.

"I feel so lost," Beralas' voice was muffled by Jess' riding jacket, "I love L'ren so much, and now he's gone!" She broke down, sobbing.

"I know, honey," Jess said softly, wrapping his arms around the slight girl. "And I can't promise it will get any easier. But I'm here for you. If you need anything, anything at all, I'm here."

He held Beralas until her sobs subsided and her arms grew slack around his waist. He leaned back a little to look at her and found she had fallen asleep on her feet. It was just his arms holding her up.

He slipped his arm under her knees and picked her up, nodded to Tarrie and Dru as they finished clearing the area of small tables, and headed towards her quarters. They both nodded with small sympathetic smiles on their faces. Everyone felt for the young woman who had lost her love too soon.

Jess changed his mind and changed directions to go towards his quarters. Obviously, the girl had not been sleeping well in her own bed. Maybe she would do better in another bed. He tucked her into his bed and settled onto the couch in the outer room. He shucked his boots and reached down under the side table and pulled out a bottle of quikal and a cup.

He settled in to drink his liquor and thought he better let her dragon know that Beralas was with him. Jess told Hallath to tell Magath. Hallath responded to something Jess could not hear and then Hallath gave the equivalent to a human chuckle and told Jess that Magath was coming over.

Jess sat up abruptly. "What?" he asked aloud and in mental conversation with Hallath.

_You heard what I said_, his dragon responded.

_Well, what are we going to do about that?_ Jess asked Hallath.

_Let her in_, Hallath responded. _She's not big. We will fit_.

_That's not the point!_ Jess admonished.

_What _is _the point?_ Hallath asked. _She just wants to be near her weyrmate. Just as I would want to be near you if you were somewhere else._ Hallath said reasonably.

_But you don't follow me around!_ Jess exclaimed.

_I don't fit in most weyrs and you and I are aware. Beralas is not aware at this time. Magath is worried is all._

_Oh, alright_, Jess said somewhat grudgingly. This whole idea of his of helping out Beralas seemed to have gotten out of hand. He was aware of what would be said when Beralas left his quarters in the morning. He had not thought that far when he had taken the limp young woman into his arms.

_Be easy_, his dragon said calmly, _everyone knows you have deep feelings for Beralas. Here comes Magath now._

The smaller green dragon landed on Hallath's ledge with nary a sound, eased quietly into the weyr next to Hallath and curled up at his shoulder and tucked her tail under her jaw. She looked through the outer room of Jess' quarters to the bedchamber and saw her weyrmate's dark hair lying on the pillow. She breathed in deeply and caught Beralas' scent drifting from the bedchamber. She settled herself a little more comfortably and closed her eyes and went directly to sleep.

_Apparently Magath has not been sleeping well either,_ Hallath said to Jess, lowered his head to his front legs, and he too, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Well THIS is a fine mess, Jess thought to himself. Then he remembered the quiet smiles of sympathy he had gotten from Tarrie and Dru and thought maybe Hallath was right. Dragonriders and the people who most closely allied themselves with dragons and dragonriders were a lot more open minded than those who were landbound.

Jess left off with his troublesome thoughts and thought about Beralas and the little one she carried. He wondered how he might go about helping Beralas find peace in her present Weyr. He wondered if she would have to move, and would she allow him to accompany her. Since he doubted that he would ever find what Torene and M'hall had, or what Sean and Sorka had, he figured he'd at least have the love of a young woman for her father figure.

He took one last swig of the drink in his cup, returned cup and bottle to the lower shelf, turned and stretched out onto his long couch, draped the quilt he had over the back of the couch over himself and settled down to go to sleep.

* * *

M'hall heard Torene moan, and sat up groggily. Torene was still asleep, but thrashing a little as though in pain.

He touched her on the shoulder and said her name. She roused a little, tried to rearrange her cumbersome body in a more comfortable position and her eyes flared open.

"Michael," she said, "My water just broke." Her eyes became unfocused as she asked Alaranth to alert Greta's fire lizard, Tabs, that she was needed in the Weyrwoman's quarters.

"What can I do to help you, honey?" M'hall said anxiously, "I know we did those classes with Verona and Ju Adjai…but Torene, I'm worried!"

"Michael," Torene said softly, "We'll do fine. Greta is on her way and you answered the questions correctly that Verona and Greta had for you," she paused as a contraction hit her, "I realize that any information or tests do not stand up to real life. But my darling, women have been having babies for millennia. I'll be fine!"

There was a scratching at their entryway.

"Come in! Come in," M'hall said, abandoning the bed to meet Greta and Verona just as they came in. Alaranth rumbled gently with assent. She had been getting concerned by her rider's pain. But when she queried Faranth about it, Faranth had said that babies and pain went together like water and fish.

Alaranth watched from her Weyr as Greta and Verona shooed M'hall out, admonishing him to get a shirt on and get some hot water from the dumb waiter, which Alaranth could hear rumbling in the distance.

Greta and Verona helped Torene to her feet, and Verona stripped off the wet bedsheets while Greta helped Torene into a dry shift.

"Won't need bottoms for this next bit, will we?" Greta grinned as she quipped.

Torene nodded. As soon as the bed was arranged, the two older women helped Torene back into bed and Greta began her examination.

"Head's down, canal is open. Just need a little manipulation and, oh, gosh, here we go!" Greta exclaimed, "M'hall, where is that water?!"

M'hall came back in the room with the large two handled pot of water, fully clothed and not spilling a drop for all that he was hustling.

"Verona, wraps, please," Greta said, "M'hall, put that next to me and go hold your wife's hand and help her breathe. She's got some pushing to do shortly. No, not yet, Torene!" Greta quickly washed her hands, prepped the area, laid out the string, knife and antiseptic gel.

She glanced up at the expectant parents and saw that they looked terrified.

She grinned and said, "Not too many baby births for you two, eh?"

"Mother always sent us boys out," M'hall said. He looked down at Torene, "and she is the baby. What's with the knife and string, Greta?"

"The string is tie off the umbilical cord, you remember," Greta told them, "and the knife is to cut the cord." Torene was nodding even as her eyes were glazing with pain.

Greta took note, shook Torene's knee and said, "Torene, wait just a tiny bit and push when I tell you to, okay?

"How?" Torene asked. Her eyes wide and clearing a bit as she concentrated on what Greta was saying.

"You'll know. Believe me, you'll know," Greta said. She took another look, and said, "Now Torene, push now!"

And Torene found that she did know how to push. She pushed and pushed and it seemed to take forever. Then Greta said, "Okay, Torene. Ease up. Let's wait for the next one. M'hall, on this next contraction, let's get you behind Torene so she has nice firm support and she can grip both your hands.

So M'hall settled himself behind Torene on the bed and as the next contraction hit, Torene gripped both of M'hall's arms and when Greta said "Push" she pushed for all she was worth and felt a great release. Then she heard a small cry and opened her eyes to the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. Her own little boy. Her and M'hall's little creation!

Greta had taken care of the umbilical cord and laid the exquisite little boy on his mommy's tummy. Torene's hands automatically came up and supported his head and torso.

Verona finished mopping up and slid the rubberized birthing blanket out from under Torene, then picked up the equipment and tucked it into Greta's bag, birthing blanket on top. They would clean everything in the morning after they got a good night's sleep. After all, they had 3 sets of everything in case more than one child decided to make their entrance at the same time. So far, three had been all they had needed.

The two women took the baby from Torene and handed him to his father, then helped Torene up and into the bathing room where they helped their patient clean up. Then they helped her into clean nightclothes and into special bottoms to collect any late fluids. The three traversed slowly but steadily back into the bed chamber where Torene was helped back into bed. Verona took the baby from M'hall and gave him his first bath, taking special care with the umbilical cord.

M'hall was just so thankful that he had talked to Sean before Torene was very far along. Sean said he had tried to keep up his Weyrleader responsibilities when his first child, Michael, had been born. But quickly realized that if he was going to be of any help to Sorka at all, he had to let someone else lead for a while.

M'hall had asked Jess and David to take over for him for the next couple of months. The two men were extremely diligent Wingleaders and sharing the duties would create less stress all around. M'hall was sure he had left the Weyr in good hands.

He tuned back in to what Greta was saying. Greta was talking earnestly to Torene and M'hall. Mostly reminding them to rest when baby rested, and that baby would set his own schedule for a while, and to be ready to follow his lead. Eat when he ate, rest when he rested.

"So, have you two decided a name for the youngest Connell?" she asked, as Verona handed the little mite to his mother.

M'hall and Torene looked at each other and smiled.

"Toreal," Torene said, "So the honorific would be Teal."

"Oh, ho!" Greta chortled, "we will now be naming our male children with name that shorten gracefully!" she grinned widely, her white teeth flashing against her chocolate-creme colored skin.

"But of course!" the parents responded simultaneously, grinning in return. Toreal took that moment to begin crying and moving his head around searchingly.

"Okay, Torene, here we go. He's hungry and he's searching for a teat," Greta said and with her hands, encouraged Torene to snuggle Toreal closer to her breast. The infant nuzzled around, almost had it but missed, tried again, and as his mouth brushed by the nipple again, it hardened upright and a dribble of milk leaked out onto the baby's cheek. The searching head immediately stilled and Toreal turned his little head and found his supper.

"Thank you so much, Greta," Torene whispered, enchanted at the sight of the little human attached to her.

"You are quite welcome, Torene. You and M'hall, if you need anything, bespeak Tags," Greta said as she paused at the door with Verona, who had been waiting patiently.

"Will do," M'hall said, smiling hugely at both midwife and her nurse.

The two women smiled and nodded, then went out and left the new parents.

M'hall and Torene couldn't seem to stop looking at the child Torene held. They checked his fingernails and toenails. Ran their fingers over his lush head of golden curls and watched as the curls wrapped themselves around their fingers. They marveled at his sweet little ears and fine little nose and lips.

Toreal let loose of the nipple in his mouth and went searching the other way for more sustenance. Torene took the hint and helped him find the other breast and the baby continued to feed.

"Is he hungry from being born, do you think? Or is he always going to eat like this?" M'hall asked his wife.

"I don't know," Torene said, "but he's quite the good eater, isn't he!"

They continued to watch their infant son nurse. They watched as the little guy's eyes grew heavier and heavier and his suckles grew fairly sporadic. Torene unlatched him from her breast, sat up and laid Toreal against her shoulder and began patting and rubbing his back to help him burble up any air he may have swallowed. Toreal gave a little burp, and nestled his face against Torene's neck and went to sleep.

"Aw," Torene said, "isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen?" She asked facetiously of her husband, who only nodded.

"Would you please take him from me so I can get up and take him to his bed?" Torene asked M'hall. He leaned down and took the child from his beautiful wife and gently laid a lightweight blanket across the baby's torso and legs.

Torene slipped off the bed and the pair took the few steps to the crib they had made for their new baby. It was made of Pernese wood and had been rubbed with oil until it gleamed a rich golden brown. The bedding was gray chinchilla skins sewn together with sleek brown otter skins to make a beautiful patchwork tapestry to keep the baby warm in winter and cool in summer. The grays and browns of the skins set off the golden brown of the crib and in turn made the woven tapestry behind the crib glow with color.

The tapestry was in vibrant reds, blues and golds and was a geometric pattern that Torene's seamstress, Brenae had been working on for some months. She said it was a fertility symbol from her native Scandinavia back on Earth. She was making tapestries for all the new babies being born on Pern.

They tucked little Toreal into bed and watched as his little eyes closed and his oddly dark lashes, just like his mother's, lay thickly against his cheeks. They were just sighing and looking at the little sleeping form when M'hall looked up and said quietly, "Hey, Mrs. Connell, we should get ourselves off to bed. Don't know how long this little tyke will sleep."

"But shouldn't we tell our parents, our friends, the whole darn world!? We have a new baby boy!" Torene said excitedly. M'hall quickly pulled her away from the sleeping child and turned her so her voice carried into their bed chamber and not over the little sleeper.

"Not right now," M'hall said quietly, drawing Torene into his arms and picking her up easily, carried her to their recently deserted and immensely comfortable bed and laid her gently on the bed.

"Tomorrow is soon enough," he murmured in her hair as he pulled the covers up over her and slid under the covers with her, wrapped her in his arms and promptly fell asleep.


	13. Rementh Ponders

13\. Rementh Ponders

Rementh made her way to the surround holding the herd beasts for the dragons' consumption. She looked over the herd and then spread her wings and flew up to the rim of the cavern. She stared despondently down at the penned animals, then looked around at the dragons who were sunning themselves on the rim. She saw the bronzes Petrath and Brianth, brown Telleth and green Taeth. She also saw bronze Firth and green Magath.

Only Brianth and Magath were looking at her. The other dragons were either sleeping or grooming. The dragons were non-judgmental. Yesterday's doings were in the past. They only lived for the moment, and at the moment, Brianth and Magath were interested in which beast Rementh would choose to eat. They knew that she had laid her eggs, but that's as far as their interest lay, they would not become interested again until the eggs hardened and hatched.

Rementh felt peaceful up here on the rim with her fellow dragons. She felt none of the raging, roiling emotions that had hit her when she was with her rider and the other people below. She decided that she would eat lightly and chose a wherry. She arrowed down from the top of the caldera and impaled a large bird in her talons and rose back up to the rim. She took the bird to the far side of the rim out of sight of the cavern floor. There, in private, as she ate her solitary bird, Rementh, the second golden dragon born of Carenath and Faranth's second clutch, thought about why she chose Julie. She had felt the girl's pull, full of longing and wistfulness. And something else. Something that she actually had not examined before.

Dragons had been 'programmed' to a certain extent, by Kitti Ping Yung, the Earth world renowned geneticist, to be 'here and now.' Dragons did not remember pain. Dragons did not remember getting seared by the airborne Thread. If they did, they would not be the fearless fighting force Pern needed to protect the people, livestock and every other organic living thing from the mindless destruction of Thread. They knew what Thread was, and ached to flame it, but that was it.

Dragons were very teachable, learning how to handle carrying a passenger, learning how to fight the airborne menace and learning the various maneuvers required to safely land other wounded dragons, things that had not been inherent in the fire lizards.

But as far as handling complex interrelationships, Kitti Ping had not changed anything from the miniature fire dragons that were the great beasts' predecessors. Kitti Ping had studied the little creatures but had made no attempt to change the small fire lizards' psyche. She had been aware that they had critical thinking, but not the extent of their thinking abilities.

As Rementh dug at a bit of meat stuck between her fangs, she touched on her relationship with Julie, and realized the girl was not kind. She heard Julie's thoughts as she went about her day, and when she was not in Rementh's presence, Julie was mean spirited. Rementh thought back to just the day before. Julie had screamed her name when Julie was with the others in the eating place. Rementh felt the chaotic, roiling thoughts of her rider and saw uppermost that anger and hatred filled the girl. Rementh did not know what to do with those emotions, so she had called Alaranth's rider, Torene, to meet her in the caldera.

Rementh had left with Julie after Torene had talked to her. Rementh felt her rider's displeasure but wasn't sure if it was aimed at herself or Torene. Julie calmed down moments after leaving the Weyr, though, and they had spent a pleasant afternoon bathing in the lake.

But Rementh felt she could not always be with her rider to keep her in balance. There were times when the girl was in another's quarters and Rementh did not fit. She heard what was going on, and this did not upset Rementh. In fact, she felt that kind of release was good for Julie. It depleted her energies and helped her sleep much better. But sometimes those encounters did not go well. She knew Julie was not well liked by some of the other humans. She had heard, or been told, the stories of Julie and other dragonriders by the dragons themselves.

She remembered how when she rose in her first mating flight, Hallath had caught her. She had laid twenty-four large eggs with several bronze dragonets. Everyone had felt joyful. But Hallath's rider, Jess, had not stayed with Julie like Brianth and Alaranth's riders stayed together. Hallath said that Jess did not like Julie anymore. Hallath had said that he liked Rementh but could not stay with her because his rider wanted to be with Greteth's rider, Jean. This had upset Julie so bad she had left, running off the ledge so fast that Rementh almost didn't catch her in time.

Rementh did not understand why Jess and Julie no longer got along. She did not understand why Julie and David no longer got along, either. David was Polenth's rider and Polenth had flown Rementh during her second mating flight. David had been kind to Julie after the flight but did not go to Julie's quarters like other bronze dragons' riders went to queen riders' quarters after a mating flight.

And Rementh did not understand about Brianth's M'hall and Alaranth's Torene at all. They stayed together all the time. And the dragons stayed in weyrs next to each other. She never heard raised voices coming from their quarters like she heard when Julie was in a bronze rider's quarters.

Rementh felt Brianth and Alaranth had a special pairing like when Dagmath had flown her. Dagmath was eager to please and had tried his best. Of Dagmath's rider, Rementh knew next to nothing, except he was highly excited when his dragon had penetrated. Dagmath had tried so hard. Maybe that was what Julie needed. Someone who was highly excited. Maybe Dagmath's rider would be someone who was eager to please. Please Julie.

But no. Julie had been furious afterwards. That's when Julie had started slapping her. Like she was somehow displeasing Julie. But Julie was always so happy when she saw Rementh. Maybe that's what Julie needed. To be in Rementh's presence all the time. But how could she be with Julie all the time?

Rementh felt a rumbling in her belly, and knew she should eat more, but didn't want to expend the energy to rise and hunt. She knew that if she didn't, though, Julie would be feeling hungry sooner and might yell at the kitchen people again. She cringed at that. She felt embarrassed at how her rider disrupted the whole place, how unreasonable she was.

Right then, Rementh decided that Julie could feed her. Then Julie would be in with her, and eating and happy.

She felt around in her mind and found Julie in her quarters, bathing. She crouched, then sprang up, her wings making that first strong downward sweep. She beat her wings just two more times, leveled out and glided down over the lip of the volcano and drifted right into her weyr.

Julie gave a surprised yelp at the commotion in the weyr next to her quarters.

"Rementh! You startled me!" Julie said telepathically and verbally to her dragon. Not unkindly, but not entirely exuberantly, either. It seemed to Rementh that Julie was getting brittle. Her voice was sharper. Her caresses were more like slaps. Julie tugged on her dragon's ear to get her to follow Julie, as if Rementh would go astray. Rementh would never stray. She would never leave Julie, but she was beginning to question why she chose Julie.

_I'm hungry and I know you are, too,_ Rementh responded, _I'd like you to have some meat brought up to us_.

"What? Why?" Julie asked, wrapping a robe around her small frame and stepping around the partition, "Can't you hunt?"

_Yes, I can hunt, but I want to be with you. You don't like to watch me hunt. I cannot hunt and be with you, so I ask you to have meat and your kind of food of food brought to us,_ her beautiful dragon responded.

Julie was nonplussed. She should have thought of this herself!

"Splendid idea!" Julie said, smiling radiantly, "Would you be so kind as to bespeak Alaranth to have Torene bring us a pitcher of quikal, a platter of roasted beef, bread, cheese and fruit. Oh, oh! And some of those dainty pastries that Tarrie makes. Make that a basketful! Oh, and whatever you want, dear heart."

Julie returned to the bathing room where her fresh clothing lay while Rementh spoke to Alaranth.

Torene's eyes flew wide open and her jaw dropped. Her arm dropped from under her chin to fall with a loud thump onto the table, then she stood up abruptly from the small conference table in the Weyrwoman's quarters.

M'hall looked up at lovely wife, surprised at the suddenness of her actions. There seemed to be something amiss.

"What's the matter, 'Rene?" he asked, getting to is feet and following her to the dumb waiter shaft that Cobber had put in the Weyrwoman's quarters as a "surprise wedding gift" as he called it, though it had actually been in place since the Weyr had been carved into the volcano. Torene and M'hall had just happened to be the first tenants.

"That was Rementh!" Torene exclaimed, "She just asked me to have someone bring up food for her and Julie! Quite a specific list, too, I might add!" Torene wrote down the 'order' on a piece of slate with a stick of chalk and lowered the dumb waiter by its' crank. It rumbled down the shaft and came to a stop in the lower caverns.

"Is this something we really want to condone?" M'hall asked, hugging Torene from behind.

Torene leaned back into his embrace.

"I think…I think Rementh may have suggested this to Julie. And if so… I think it's a good idea," Torene said, turning in his arms and leaning back to see him clearly. "I heard Rementh, I think she did it deliberately, she said, "Yes, I can hunt, but I want to be with you and you don't like to watch me hunt. I know you are hungry." Rementh may be trying to keep Julie happy, and we both know Julie is happiest when she is with Rementh.

The two Weyrleaders looked at each other. Realizing this might be a way to get Julie's disruptive presence out of the common areas of the Weyr, they discussed the ramifications of basically restricting the dragon and rider to quarters.

"People have been avoiding Julie more and more" M'hall said, "Taking her meals in her quarters or on her ledge or totally away from the Weyr might just keep her out of mischief and out of other people's way," Torene said as they returned to their interrupted work at the conference table.

"This is… not exactly the kind of thinking we are accustomed to experiencing with our dragons" Torene mused, sitting down again and shuffling her papers together.

_What kind of thinking _are_ you accustomed to? _Brianth asked of Torene and M'hall. The fact that Brianth had included Torene in his draconic query made Torene's eyebrows go up. Her mate's dragon spoke to her like she was an extension of his rider. And with a start, Torene realized it was true. M'hall was seldom out of her presence. Even when fighting Thread, they were within sight of each other.

The Weyrleaders heard the slap-slap-slap of a hastily moving individual passing their door. They peeked out of the door after a lad has passed, nearly overladen with plates and drinks and a huge roasted haunch of wherry.

"Well, it's a start," M'hall said, "Maybe it will bring a little peace to the Weyr."

_That is what Rementh is hoping_, Brianth mused to M'hall and Torene, _you were correct, Torene. Rementh thought of this. She knows her rider is a disruption in the lower places where food is, and this is her way of bringing about a more peaceful coexistence._

M'hall and Torene stared at each other. Non-plussed, full of pride to be friends with dragons such as these, eager to share with the other riders and Weyrleaders.

_I know not why you are surprised_. Alaranth told the pair. She too, exerted a little effort so both her rider and her rider's mate could hear her_. From what you have told us about the little ones that came before_, Alaranth continued_, the tiny person responsible said she left the thinking alone. At least, that's what we've heard, from other dragons when catching up on the news._ Alaranth settled more comfortably in her Weyr_. The little ones are quite intelligent and their thinking is sound once beyond that giddy self-preservation._

Brianth took over; _The little ones also have a place for each dragon. _

The two Weyrleaders looked at each other wonderingly. Their dragons were absolutely verbose!

_Queens are, of course, at the top, like Alaranth is here._ Brianth continued. _Then come her bronzes, the browns, the blues and the silly little greens._

Alaranth stretched out her forelegs and extended her claws, yawned hugely, relaxed and settled down for a nap.

_Queens and their bronzes have an order, too, and the top two or three bronzes make the decisions, with the queen, on where to hunt, what to hunt, when to rest, where to rest_ Alaranth murmured sleepily. _Ask Sorka about her first true encounter with the little ones…_

M'hall and Torene looked at each other in consternation.

"Why haven't you told us any of this before?" Torene asked telepathically and aloud to include M'hall in the conversation.

_You didn't ask,_ her great golden dragon murmured, closed her eyes and promptly went to sleep.

M'hall queried Brianth, "Did you know any of this?" Speaking aloud for Torene.

_I did_ Brianth's mind was emptying as he too, prepared for a nap.

"Why didn't you tell us!" Torene stamped her foot in frustration.

_We thought you knew_ Brianth said softly, aware that he had somehow annoyed his weyrmate's mate.

"Is there anything else you feel we know but may not? Torene asked aloud and telepathically to Brianth, who heard the frustration in the queenrider's voice.

_No._ Brianth breathed quietly _Except the little ones and we dragons have a lot more in common than not. The queens and greens do not need the sun to come into breeding time. They need only to think about the males who are going to fly them. Similar to how when Torene sees you and you see Torene and get so excited it spills over onto me. The sun just intensifies the process. _Brianth's outer eyelid slid slowly over his eyes and he settled more deeply next to his queen and went to sleep.

The human couple eased away from the sleeping dragon couple and closed the partition between the weyr and the Weyrwoman's quarters. They continued on through to their comfortable sofa. Torene curled up in the corner and M'hall settled around her, his arm behind her head on the back of the sofa and his left leg propped over his right leg onto the footstool in front of Torene, his hand on her knee.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Torene said, "I wish we had known about the queens coming into season without the sun. We would have been more prepared for Nora's queen." Her voice trembled and her eyes filled with tears.

M'hall leaned in and hugged his beautiful wife. "Torene," he said gravely, "I don't know if that would have made any difference. After all, it wasn't the lack of sun. It was the presence of lightning that did in our dragons."

They both absorbed what they had learned about their beloved dragons. They were both quiet for a while, then Torene turned to M'hall and asked, "Are our dragons really as intelligent as we are? I mean, I know that sounds conceited, but humans are usually the smartest creatures on land. And if they are…' she paused.

"How do we go about finding out?" M'hall asked for her.

"Well…yeah," Torene said.

"First off, we'll talk to Sean and mother," M'hall said. He rarely called Sean "father." Sean was more than a father. Sean was his mentor, teacher, the leader of dragon riders. The Penultimate Source of All Information Dragon. Sean was First.

They heard someone in the hall again, coming from the corridor that held Rementh and Julie's quarters. Torene got up quickly and opened the door. She stood there a moment, looking at the boy, then asked, "Donelo, was Julie satisfied with what you brought her?"

"Yes" Donelo said, "But she said to bring another haunch of wherry for her dragon, and more pastries and MILK! We have milk? Where do I get that?" The boy queried.

"From the cold room, Donelo. Down the stairs at the back of the kitchen. There is milk, buttermilk, cheese and even some iced cream sometimes!" Torene told the boy, "Tarrie will help you find it, or Deboreen."

"She said the wherry didn't have to be cooked," Donelo said, "but that's all we have—cooked wherry!"

"That'll be fine, Donelo. It's for Rementh, her dragon," Torene said confidently, "and Rementh isn't particular." Donelo perked up a little.

"I'd better go. She told me to come right back!" Donelo said, taking a few steps on down the corridor.

"You go ahead, Donelo, and thank you so much for taking care of Queenrider Julie and Rementh," Torene told the youth sincerely.

As Torene closed the door, she walked over to the dumb waiter and put in another order. This one quite small. Then she returned to the sofa where M'hall had stretched out. His arms were crossed on his abdomen, his eyes were closed and he looked completely relaxed.

Torene's heart melted, again. She eased up to him and carefully propped open the padded legs that made the sofa into a guest bed. She pulled the beautiful heirloom quilt over her husband, her lover, her Weyrmate, and crawled in next to him and snuggled up to his warmth on that chilly night. He murmured something so quietly Torene didn't catch it, but he opened his arms and engulfed her in his warmth. She lay there thinking about what riches she had accumulated in such a short time. Alaranth. Michael. Toreal. Her cup was full and running over!

She was too excited to sleep and slid out from under the quilt and slipped on her full-length robe with the fur collar that her mother had given her for her wedding day. It was made of thin, supple suede and was the color of a rich sunset: maroon faded to light pink to light blue to indigo blue and the fur trim had been dyed to match the indigo blue. The robe was lined with blue fleece and was very warm, and the sleeves were bell shaped, nice and long and Torene paced the dimensions of the room, waiting for her buttermilk and a couple pastries.

She was thinking about Jean and Tarrie and who did what in the way of keeping track of births and deaths, marriages and marriage contracts, of weather conditions, Thread patterns, who was sick, pregnant, recovering, dragons who were indisposed and unable to fight. Torene thought maybe a non-dragon rider might be the person to tap for all that. And keep Tarrie as domestic manager in the kitchens. Jean liked research, so maybe Jean would be a good one to have recording the dragon and rider deaths, births, pairings, and especially whose dragon rose and captured whose dragon.

The dumb waiter rumbling in the vertical shaft seemed to make an extraordinary amount of noise and startled Torene out of her musings.

She got her snack off the tray, along with her buttermilk. She wrote a quick "thank you" to the night staff and dropped it on the dumb waiter before going into Toreal's little alcove and checking on the sleeping baby. She had been incredibly busy that day and had only been able to see Toreal for a few minutes before she had to put the little boy to bed.

He was growing fast, already 4 months and loving the dragon rides he got from his mother to go to the vineyards to pick fresh grapes.

Rene Mallibeau had said that the crop of grapes this year greatly outclassed the grapes of last year, but they still did not have the 'oomph' he was searching for, so by all means, eat the grapes. Don't let them go to waste.

Torene took a long pull from her glass of buttermilk. A most pleasant smile slowly lit her face as she licked her lips and took another long drink. The snack consisted of a few pieces of thinly sliced roast beef with cream cheese on them toasted together on a brioche bun top. She took a bite of the open-faced sandwich and sighed.

"Torene, you gonna share?" a plaintive voice asked quietly from the sofa.

"Of course I'll share," Torene said quietly as the patted the sweet baby's back and tucked in his blanket a little closer to him, "I'll be right there."


	14. An Announcement and A Proclamation

A Proclamation, Some Announcements and Good Ol' Fashioned Fun

Cabot Carter, Joel Lillienkamp, Red Hanrahan, Pol Nieto, Zi Ongala, Bruce Olivine and their wives, Jean Carter, Dana Lillienkamp, Mairi Hanrahan, Bay Tarkington-Nieto, Sabra Ongala, Marchatta Olivine, were gathered at Fort Hold, as it was now being called, with Sean and Sorka, Torene and M'hall and the two new Telgar Weyrleaders, F'mar and Arna.

It was nearly time for the yearly planet-wide meeting. They were in the great dining hall of Fort, some of them having just flown in a-dragon-back. The others had partaken of Joel and Dana's hospitality and arrived a few days back to recuperate from their various overland trips.

Bruce and Marchatta Olivine had come furthest, and had come by wagon with a contingent of traders who were well equipped with sheet metal coverings for their wagons and beasts of burden. They were coming to the meeting, too, having been invited by Joel and the other leaders.

Humans were spreading out again across Pern, and needed more and more supplies, more and more viable land protected by the beautiful dragons of Pern and the fat, wiggly grubs that assisted in that protection. The traders were willing to transport anything, for a price, and that was only fair, considering they risked life and limb when out during Threadfall.

As per the charter, a rotating consortium of charterers and stakeholders were invited to the yearly gathering. The leaders had extended the invitation to everyone on Pern this year, for it had been a few years since everyone had gathered and it was to be a special celebration of life on Pern. It was extremely welcome that no Thread was due to all for 4 days.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing everyone else, and as the rest of the meeting's attendees arrived, there was excited pandemonium. Calls across the cavern's floor echoed with thrilling frequency as friends reunited.

Joel let them congregate, sort, mingle and regroup for about an hour, and then, as all the attendees were accounted for, walked up to the dais on which a lectern was placed and cleared his throat along with a gentle rapping of a hammer on a piece of hammered metal. The sound was discordant enough to capture everyone's attention. He motioned to the chairs and benches that were arrayed around the dais in a semi-circle and said, "I do believe you all know me, and if you'll take a seat, we can get started." He waited patiently while the nearly twenty people took seats.

"I'm hoping to keep this portion short, to maybe an hour. I have it on good authority that we're going to be here for about three days overall. We've got some great things planned for you and the rest of the gatherers. We can always re-convene if necessary. Want to hit the highlights of the meeting and introduce some people and propositions and let you mull it over." Here Joel paused because he saw the surprise on some faces and consternation on other faces.

"Oh, yes, that's why the invitation said to pack a bag. You all took me seriously, didn't you?" He mock-scowled at them, knowing full well that everyone there had indeed brought clothes and had been shown to a room or rooms in the cavernous Fort Hold.

"I think we were just surprised that the meeting is going to last 3 days!" Zi Ongala chuckled, "I know you're long winded, Joel, but THREE DAYS?"

The assembly laughed and shifted a little in their seats, for indeed, three days of meetings seemed tedious to the extreme.

"An HOUR, I said," Joel restated, "I'm hoping to keep_ this_ to an hour or so. The rest of the time will be spent finding friends here from all over the planet," and here he spread his arms wide, "We have the Hanrahans from their place, Ruatha, to the east of us. We have Toby Duff to tell us about what's going on with the dolphins. We have the Anwells from right here at Fort to tell us exciting news. We have the dragonriders from the new Weyrs, Telgar and Big Island, far to the north and south of us. New Weyrleaders to congratulate, new babies to add to the Pern Rosters, new friends to meet in the Traders, but all that will come a little later. For now, let's get down to business, okay?"

The attendees settled down and became enraptured listeners as Joel laid out plans for new roads to be blazed from settlement to settlement by a group of folks he called 'Traders.' They voted unanimously to help provision and work with the Traders to make, mark and map the roads and trails.

Then they listened as the leader of the Traders got up and introduced herself as Dagella, and told the group how she and her fellow Traders and Tinkers and Runners managed to survive during Threadfall with thin metal coverings for their wagons, which were totally made out of a lightweight plascrete and 'armor' for their burden beasts.

They also had made shelters of stone and metal along the routes they already had in place to shelter travelers without others means of sheltering available to them.

"Here is the surprise I was telling Mr. Joel, here," Dagella said, in her soft drawling voice, "We have found survivors in some of the cave systems out in the middle of this continent who did not know that Pern has survived the Threadfall attacks and did not even know about the dragons!"

The group stirred excitedly, glancing away from Dagella and checking the faces of their companions. Not know about the dragons!

"How can that be, Joel?" Zi Ongala asked, leaning forward and frowning, "We contacted everyone about Threadfall! We had a list of everyone who moved!"

"Not everyone took communicators, Zi," Joel said, "I should know, I am the one who kept the requisition orders. There were several very independent groups like the Tauregs, the Connells," here Joel glanced at Sean, "and what about the DeLaurens? They barely got foot onto terra firma and they melted into the forests!"

"My family, at least my parents' camp, had very little to do with technology," Sean said, sitting back in his chair, legs crossed casually at the ankles. "The rest of them were that way or worse. Very, very clannish. My ma thought nothing of marrying my sisters to first cousins. Haven't seen 'em in months."

"Are you Sean Connell?" Dagella asked, looking at the athletic looking handsome man sitting next to a titian-haired vibrantly beautiful looking woman.

"Yes," Sean said, "and you be askin' why?"

"Because ya da asked me to inquire aboutcha and bring word back," the black haired, black eyed woman said, "Ya ma be gone now," Dagella continued in the vernacular of the gypsy, "and ya da be pinin' fo' his eldes' son. I tol' him ya ha' no use fo' th' life o'th' wand'r'. If ya be outta th' life this long, it'll ha no hol' on ya."

The people sitting near Sean and Sorka were looking back and forth at the couple and the gypsy, trying to discern the conversation, but it was like a foreign language to them. It nearly was for Sean, too, it had been awhile since he'd heard the vernacular of his father.

"Too right. I have much better things to do with my life than look after a bunch of people who have no inkling of who I am or what I do!" Sean said succinctly, leaning forward, "Let my father know that if he wants my time, he will have to come to me. I have saved his hide enough times!"

At that, the friends around him gave him a round of applause. He flushed and threw his hands up in a gesture of good natured "okay, okay" and settled back into his chair. Sorka beamed at her husband and leaned over and hugged his arm.

The conversation returned to the survivors and Joel said, "You told us about these survivors when you arrived, and I have met several. Approximately how many are there?"

"There are about 35 to 40 adults and that many children in each of six caves," Dagella said, "We only brought representatives of 3 different caves with us. The Connell Camp was pretty well provisioned with Porrig still leading them. They did not send anyone. There were several of 2 other groups we found that did not believe us and refused to leave their cave systems for fear of Thread eating them."

"That's incredible," Cabot said, shaking his head, "what some people will believe. We brought them to a new world and they have melted right into the landscape, not integrating, not contributing. Why did they even put up all the collateral necessary to come with us if they were not going to enjoy their new world?

"You forget, Cabot," Red said, "Some sects were persecuted on Earth and Ceti One, and putting everything into the move got them away from the persecution. They ARE enjoying their new world. Just not the way we do."

"Enjoying?" Sean snorted, "Subsisting. Like my family has always done! I like MY way of enjoying much better!" He grinned and nodded at the assemblage.

Here all the dragonriders smiled hugely and slapped their thighs in affirmation. They could all hear the dragons trumpet from the parapets.

"Nice, that!" Joel said, "Having your own cheering section!"

"So, is there any way we can help these folks? They are well insulated from Thread, but they have so little knowledge of the world nowadays," Sabra said. Going on, she asked, "Do the families or 'clans' or 'caves' that sent representation want our help or just to acknowledge that they have survived?"

"The Caves, can we call them Holds, as you do?" Dagella asked, and receiving affirmative head-nods, continued, "the three Holds want to be included as much as possible, in the worldly doings of their planet. The representatives are here, down in the dining area, awaiting admission to this meeting, if you so approve.."

"They are here?" Sabra asked, 'Why, by all means, please include them! I mean," she hesitated and she looked at Zi and their host, Joel, who both nodded.

"Yes," Joel said, "We were waiting to get a 'take,' a 'vibe' if you will, of the feelings of the other attendees, as to whether to invite them up or.."

"Please!" Sabra said, looking imploringly at her fellow meeting mates, "Let us not wait another moment to include these other Pernese!"

The entire group murmured, "Yes," or "Let's go down and get them" or "Joel, send for them!" to which Joel nodded to someone at the entrance of the great hall, who turned on her heel and went down the stone steps double quick and nearly ran into the dining room.

"Please come with me! The entire group has asked that you come!"

The six people sitting at one table stood up, looking at one another with tentative smiles on their faces. They had been strangers six short days ago, when the last of the group had been sent with the Traders to come to Fort Hold. It had been an amazing journey. They had been isolated in their caves for all these years, thinking they were the only survivors of that dreaded menace in the skies, Thread, never knowing for sure when it was safe to go out.

Now, they knew that not only had much of the world survived, but had thrived and innovated 2 lifeforms that protected them. One of the air and one of the ground.

The grubs made little impression upon the six people, but the dragons, the dragons had made a huge impact upon them! The dragons were wonderful! Beautiful and other-worldly! The people who rode the dragons were magnificent, too! Larger than life! True warriors of times past!

The six people went into the great hall and hesitated at the door. Sabra, the sweet impulsive woman that she was, ran to them and stretched out her arms to them.

"Welcome! Welcome! My name is Sabra Ongala. Thank you so much for coming in from your holds!" Sabra said as she looked each and every one of them in the eye, shaking their hands and making them feel welcome. A few of the others crowded around, too, while the majority kept their seats so as not to overwhelm the newcomers.

There were four men and two women, all dressed in new clothing from the Fort Hold storerooms. They looked pretty much like everyone else at the meeting and they were grateful for that, and relaxed much faster knowing that they fit in better than with the ragged and tattered clothing they had traveled in.

Dayleen and Jerrika, especially, were grateful for the new clothes. They had been highly embarrassed by their other clothes which were tantamount to rags. They were also greatly relieved that a lot of Pernese had survived. It had been so disheartening and grinding to feel that they were the only souls left on the planet after coming so far!

Dayleen and Jerrika had been looking over the occupants of the room and realized the numbers were evenly matched between men and women, not realizing that these were all couples. They had so hoped to find men outnumbering women. They and the others of their clans, their holds, needed husbands. And were not really relishing having to share or not be eventually permanently attached to someone.

As the meeting got back underway, they did notice the pairings and wondered if all the men of Pern were married. They looked at each other and sighed.

When Joel had finished the last of his notes and was just about to let them all loose, he paused. "I say, go out and find all your friends. Give them great hugs and cheerful grins. None of us know how long we will be around! I would like for the Traders, Tinkers and Gypsies to feel they have friends here, too. The "Opening Ceremonies to the First Annual Gather" will be around three here at Fort's gather ground. It's big enough to hold everyone, I think, with little spillover." And with that, he quit the dais and headed for the door. Everyone else got up, looked around and began mingling.

Sean, Sorka, Mihall and Torene turned as one to the newest members of the 'Weyrleaders Guild,' that special group of people who lived, ate, drank and submerged themselves in everything dragon. Arna and F'mar arrived in their midst just as Dagella broke away from her group and approached the dragonriders.

She hesitated at the edge, and Sean nodded to her while Torene eased closer to Mihall so Dagella could join them.

"Thank you very much for assisting us, Weyrleader Sean. We truly appreciate the helping hands getting the groups of people sorted out and for bringing us here," the slight, lithe woman said. She nodded to Sorka, "And thank you, Lady Sorka, for all your encouragement."

Sean and Sorka looked at each other and the others and burst out laughing.

"I'm so sorry, Dagella!" Sorka exclaimed when she saw the confusion, hurt and growing anger in Dagella's eyes, "It's just that we are much less formal around here! No one calls anyone by their title. We have gotten so accustomed to handling the unending dragon issues, medical issues, and the schooling of the children of the weyr among all the dragonriders that we do not have time to stand on ceremony."

"There is a lot you may not know about then, since you do not mingle with landbound creatures so much," Dagella said ruefully, "There seems to be a big push for feudalism out in the holds."

"What?" Sean exclaimed, "Like lords and ladies stuff from fairy tales?"

"Yes," Dagella said, "and folks below them that do all their bidding. I'm surprised you did not notice that when you are with the holders after a Fall. If I heard you correctly, you and the Weyrwoman go to the holder's residence and assure them that all Thread is dead, right?"

"Yes," Mihall said, "we ascertain that there were no injuries sustained on the ground, and give the land-bound people the all clear. Come to think of it, I did hear a 'lady' here and there, but it was a younger woman and I thought that was her name!" he grinned sheepishly.

"Will the delegates from the outlying holds be coming to the dinner later?" Sabra asked Dagella. The other woman nodded, then beckoned to Jerrika and Dayleen to join the group. They had been hovering near the entrance since Joel had left, not sure what to do.

"Joel and Dana opened up 'stores' as he called them, and got each of them a beautiful outfit to wear at the dinner and dance," Dagella said. She nodded to Jerrika, who then joined in.

"I am rather unaccustomed to how wonderful the clothes are," Jerrika admitted, "we have had nothing like this for years. Always 'making do' with making over clothing. I'm not sure how some of these things go on, would you be so kind as to help us, Sabra?"

"Of course!" Sabra didn't hesitate an instant, "Whatever is needed to help you feel comfortable. Zi, my husband, will be able to help the men with anything they need. Will that be all right?"

"I'm sure it will," Dagella said, smiling at both Jerrika and Dayleen.

They began breaking up after that, with the riders headed for the weyr to get changed out of riding gear and the visitors took their bundled clothing back into the hall following Sabra.

It wasn't until the dragonriders reassembled in front of the great entryway that they noticed a difference in the dress of the holders from the outlying districts. More and more they were seeing long gowns on the women and suits on the men.

There were others, of course, that were in the garb that the dragon folk were accustomed to seeing. The form-fitting leather leggings on the women and the relaxed twill fabric slacks with leather chaps and jerkins on the men. Beautifully colored linen shirts finished out the ensembles of most of the people the dragonriders knew. It was truly remarkable, the difference between the two groups of people.

As the sun reached for its' three o'clock position, Joel came out of one of the storerooms looking harried and a little put out, but gave himself a little shake and let a genuine smile crease his weathered features.

"Friends of Pern, we are here to celebrate LIFE!" he yelled, and everyone in the area cheered, which hastened the arrival of a horde of other people from surrounding caves and metal structures that had been set up for the Gather.

"First, we have a proclamation to read," Joel said loudly, "and it will be added to the Charter. Then we will have a listing read of all the new children born since Thread began to fall and then," here he paused dramatically, "then we will have a dinner fit for royalty, followed by a good old fashioned 'Hootenanny'!"

Clapping and yelling "Well Done!" and chattering excitedly to each other, they missed what someone asked.

"Have a 'hooten WHAT?'" someone hollered.

Joel hollered back, "A HOOTENANNY! A HOEDOWN! A HUGE PARTY!"

"We heard THAT!" a number of people shouted back.

"I'm going to turn this lectern over to Drake Bonner, who has the loudest voice I have ever encountered, and let him read the proclamation," Joel said, again trying to surpass the crowd and their excitement, "Then later, maybe at dinner, we can have the births and marriages read."

"Alright, alright," Drake said, coming up onto the stage and elbowing Joel in the ribs, "It's my turn. Where is this proclaiming thing I'm supposed to read?" Drake eyed Joel and seized the paper that stuck out of the shorter man's sleeve pocket. Joel started to protest, then made a sweeping gesture to Drake towards the crowd of people just below them.

"Hear ye hear ye!" Drake began loudly, and started laughing, "Oh that felt good!" he chortled, "Watching everyone's head snap up!" he guffawed again, then happened to catch his wife looking at him. He ducked his head, then straightened up and swallowed the next laugh. Svenda did not look happy. And an unhappy Svenda was an unhappy Drake, he knew from long experience.

"Come gather around, folks!" he said, in his renowned loud voice, "the people of Pern have added an amendment to the Charter of Pern. By unanimous vote, which you all sent in by messenger, either by foot or by horseback or by dragon, we declare that every seventh day on every marked calendar we have, shall be set aside for a day of rest. A Restday. Barring Thread in your sector, of course! And every Restday shall include a Gathering of like-minded people. For trading, for bargaining, for eating, for dancing. For Fun!" Drake ended with a flourish.

The applause was thunderous, the yells and exclamations were louder and the dragons louder yet and silenced some of the non-dragon folk. What was wrong with the dragons, they wondered. But the riders were still all cheering and applauding, even louder if possible, so they joined back into the revelry, vowing to ask about the dragons later.

Joel nudged Drake in the side and pointed down to the bottom of the page Drake held.

"Oh!" Drake exclaimed, "There's more!" he boomed. Everyone quieted down and he continued. "Dinner is served!"

Everyone laughed good naturedly and began to amble over towards the numerous fire pits that had been dug into the ground and over which entire carcasses of sheep, steers, turkeys and wherries were being turned on spits by youngsters of the cooks. The makeshift tables were doors on sawhorses. Chairs and benches of all kinds flanked the tables and beyond them were more tables laden with fruit, breads, vegetables—cooked and raw, and desserts, tables and tables of desserts!

Most of these had been made right there at Fort, but Tarrie and Deboreen from Benden, Sherilayn from Anwell Hold and Mairi Hanrahan from Ruatha had all contributed huge quantities of the fruits, vegetables and desserts.

The lines formed meandering paths through the tables, with everyone getting a good plateful of food before heading back to the tables, to elbow those still in line good-naturedly out of the way so they could settle their laden plates on the table, sit down and enjoy the repast.

Several people were serving those seated with drinks. Cool fruit punches pre-dominated the offerings, but there was klah, and a couple of other fermented beverages.

Rene Mallibeau, the planet's first vintner, was chatting with Marchatta and Bruce Olivine about his vines on the back side of Benden Weyr.

"I tried dragon scat," he was admitting to Bruce as Marchatta listened in, while watching the crowd, "but Sean and Sorka were right. It was of no use, being from carnivores, as it was. But they did give me good advice. I planted the field across from the vines with a hay crop, then mulched that in around the vines while waiting for the horse manure they had brought me from Red's place to go through it heating up period."

He had taken up a skin from the ground next to his chair, and pulling the stopper, poured a small measure into Bruce's empty klah cup.

"It isn't quite ready for fermenting yet, but it makes for a nice fruit drink," Rene said, offering the cup back to Bruce.

"Mmm. that's nice. Here, Marchatta, try this," Bruce turned to his wife, offering her his cup.

His wife took the cup and took a judicious sip. "Oh, Rene! That's wonderful!" she said, her eyes brightening with pleasure. "That is really good!"

She was interrupted from saying anything more by Drake Bonner back at the lectern, garnering attention by clearing his throat.

"Joel here has given me something else to read," he said clearly, "We have a collection of babies that have been born since our last year's meeting and a list of marriages that have been performed."

"Oh! And he wants me to be sure I tell you about the lost Pernese people who had thought Thread had eaten every living thing and did not know about the grubs and dragons! You will see unfamiliar faces in the crowds tonight, make yourself known to them! They are so happy to see how well we have survived, and may be wanting to relocate from the caves in which they are living to meet more people!" Drake beamed around at the crowded tables and then looked down at his sheets again.

"Well, we have Torene, and Michael, who is Sean and Sorka's son," Drake continued, "They got married and now have a little boy, Toreal. We have Greta and Bićhard d' Anato's little boy, Rusafeld. Then we have Mary T. and Gene Glick. Newlywed late last year. They moved into Fort Hold proper last week from near the Anwell place where Mary and the kids had been living."

Here Drake paused, frowning as he looked at his sheet, "Is this right, Joel?" he queried his old friend, "Kristo Toppan and Norabeth Bergonin are getting married? When did she revive?"

"Three weeks ago," Joel said, "Mihall alerted me to the coming nuptials when I enquired about his list of good news."

"That IS good news!" Drake said loudly, including everyone in the telling "One of our dragonrider queens whose dragon died in that horrific storm awhile back, has recovered and is wedding her sweetheart, is that right, Joel?"

"Yes," Joel nodded, "her father, Janin Bergonin, has announced that Kristo pulled his daughter out of her despair and she is recovering wonderfully!"

Everyone was so happy to hear about Nora that there was thunderous applause for the couple. There were intense conversations among some of the women on how to best help the sweethearts. They quieted somewhat when Drake took up his list again, but continued unabated.

The reading went on while everyone was eating their way through seconds. And dessert. Then Joel handed Drake another sheet.

"Oh Ho!" Drake reported, "Joel and his committee have pulled some strings," here Drake paused dramatically, then laughed, "and has gotten a lot of our musicians from around Pern to join us tonight in celebrating Pern. We will have music! Singing music, dancing music, galavantin' music!" He did a little jig on the dais.

"When will this 'hootenanny' start, Joel? Drake asked, obviously hoping soon.

"It already has!" Joel announced, pointing behind them to the group of performers who were setting up stands to read music from.

"Alrighty, then! Away with the music! Make way, I'm heading for the dessert tables!" And with that, the man left the stage and indeed headed for the dessert table while the musicians tuned a moment, then decided what they were going to start off with and played, "Home on the Range." Everyone who could, joined in singing.

After a few songs to loosen up the vocal cords, the musicians and song leader opted for "Amazing Grace" and the national anthem of the Confederated Nations of Earth "Oh, Arise all you Sons." Next came the Pern National Anthem and the old United States of America anthem.

Finally, with everyone having eaten their fill and the tables were cleared of food, some of the tables were moved further away from the stage and the rest of them folded away, leaving a good amount of space for dancing with chairs and benches around the perimeter.

The sun had gone down and the lights that had been strung the day before were plugged in and their golden glow illuminated the huge square, the musicians, the revelers and the dance floor, which beckoned to every age woman in attendance!

She grabbed her man and walked to the dance floor, running the steps through her head, hoping she remembered all the songs she had danced to in the past.

Jerrika and Dayleen looked around them in awe. Everywhere they looked, they saw people. But as they continued to stare about them, they noticed that there were a lot of unattached men milling at the edges of the dance floor. They continued to look at the various groups of possibly unattached men, and they began to smile.

"It's possible that our first assessment was incorrect," Dayleen said archly, with a little smile on her face.

"Just so, Dayleen," Jerrika answered, "And look over there to the left. Don't those gentlemen look a little lonely?

Dayleen followed the directions to look a little further left, and saw a group of men, dressed in the style of dragon riders and regular residents. Not the ornately dressed holders, who were all attached, and seemed a little aloof and superior.

"I think we need to go and ask a couple of these gentlemen to dance, don't you? Jerrika asked her friend.

"I do!" Dayleen answered

They turned towards the small group and let beautiful smiles fill their faces and a little something more in their eyes.

"Hello, I am called Dayleen," the young woman in the new gather clothes said to one of the men who had caught her eye. She held out her hand and he took hold of her hand, gripping nicely before letting go.

"I am Toby Duff," the man said, "I am a dolphineer. Do you remember dolphins from Earth?

"No," Dayleen said, "I mean, yes, I remember dolphins from Earth but I never saw one in real life. I lived in the North State. I've read about them. They really communicate with you like it says on the film?

"Yes," Toby smiled and nodded his head, "they really do communicate like that. I can hear them in my head like the dragonriders hear their own dragon."

"Oh, that must be fun!" Dayleen said, smiling. She turned around and then said, "do you think we could go sit on the bench over there and keep chatting?

Toby glanced around, saw some benches not far off, and turning to his companions said, "Hey, Theo, Jim, I'm going to take Dayleen was it?" He looked back at the pretty woman at his elbow.

She nodded. "I'm going to take Dayleen to the benches, want to come with and take a load off?

Jim Tillek and his wife, Theo, both nodded and Jim said, "Sure, Toby, that sounds like a great idea. I want to dance a little later and this leg of mine wants a rest for now." The four settled on benches after rearranging them to be able to sit and chat face to face.

Jerrika, who had been looking at a fine-looking gentleman in dragonrider clothes, took that opportunity to stroll up to him and say, "Good evening, I'm Jerrika, one of the people who thought Thread had decimated every living thing on Pern. It is so amazing to think of dragons in the skies battling an entity so foreign to us. May I say, 'thank you' to you, sir?"

"Of course you may," the slender-built fair-haired man replied, "My name is Sigureo, but my dragon and friends call me 'S'ro'. Have you had some of the find juice they are serving under the tent?"

"No," Jerrika said, "and I am getting quite thirsty."

Sigureo took her arm gently in his and lead her towards the tent. "How are you enjoying meeting everyone?" he asked.

"It's been a little intimidating, but thrilling! And everyone has been so helpful and nice," Jerrika said, "And I can't hardly wait to start dancing."

"I think I will be able to help you with that, too," Sigureo said with a smile on his handsome face, "I haven't danced in a while, but I think I remember all the steps." He ushered her into the tent and asked for two juices.

The musicians changed again and started up a lively dance tune and everyone in attendance met in the dance area and had a wonderful time.


	15. Twenty-Eight Days Later

17\. Twenty-Eight Days Later

my apologies for the mix-up in Norabeth's name. She is Norabeth. Not Norabelle.

Torene awoke with a start. She cast around in her mind on what may have awakened her. Then she got out of bed, passed water in the night basket and began to be aware of what was missing. Cramps. She was missing cramps.

Torene was as regular as the sun rising and setting. As regular as moon cycles. She was late.

"Now, Torene," she told herself in a whisper, don't get too excited. It may come later in the day." She turned around and there sat M'hall, tousled from sleep, gazing at here through bleary, but alert eyes.

"Did I just hear you say you aren't to get excited? What about, beloved wife of mine? M'hall asked lazily.

"Um, it is the 28th day of my cycle. I should be having cramps, but I actually feel great!" Torene told her husband, grinning. She let that grin fade as her eyes filled with loving for this gorgeous hunk of hers.

She climbed into bed next to him and slid her arms up his bare chest and laid him back against his pillows. she kissed his neck and nibbled his ear and felt a shiver go through him. She moved down to his chest, and kissing each nipple, watched as the brown aureole popped up and tautened. He moaned a little and putting his hands under her arms, lifted her up to his chest. Their lips met in a slow, languorous kiss as his left hand went to her head and his right hand to her hip where he settled her onto him and moaned again.

"Torene," he whispered, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Michael," Torene whispered against his ear. The red head and the golden head separated as Torene raised up on her hands. The rhythm that she found was perfect.

As they stepped out of the bathing room all set and dressed for the day, M'hall stopped Torene and kissed her deeply. Torene's knees melted and it took everything she had to remain on her feet. She looked up at M'hall, who just shook his head, picked her up and carried her back to bed.

As they hurriedly got dressed a second time, Torene asked M'hall "You want me to ask your folks to come to the meeting, too, don't you?" He nodded as he pulled on his boots with a grunt. "Yeah, that would be good."

Torene picked up a barely awake Toreal from his crib and set about changing him out of his jammies. He was such a good boy. Headed onto eight months now, he slept like a log and went through his day a jolly soul. His parents, his grandparents, the whole weyr doted on him. He was getting ready to walk and had already kissed his mother's milk good bye, relying instead on cut up meat and tubers from Deboreen and Tarrie.

When the Weyrleaders made it down the stone steps, it was full on breakfast time. Late for them, as they usually ate breakfast at dawn to get a start on their day.

Only two heads turned their way as they entered. Jess looked at them, smiled mischievously and nodded, then went back to eating his melon. Tarrie also noticed the three coming in, late for them. She gave them a welcoming smile and said, "We've got something special for breakfast if you'd like to try it. I found a bunch of laminated sheets that AIVAS must have printed before we left Landing. They are recipes with wonderful names like 'Biscuits and Gravy,' which is said to be a Southern specialty."

"Let me drop Toreal off with Verona," Torene said, "I would like to try those biscuits and gravy. And do we still have some fresh fruit?

"Yes" Tarrie said, "Melon and pineapple."

"I'll take pineapple," Torene said, "Oh, wait! Let me have a little of both," then she laughed, "and no klah for me today."

Tarrie's eyebrows went up. Klah was to Torene what nectar was to bees. She couldn't live without it. Tarrie die some quick arithmetic in her head and came to her own conclusions.

Torene came back and slid gracefully onto her bench next to M'hall.

Kristo and Norabeth sat opposite them. They were making plans for the wedding although Kristo was doing the bulk of the planning and Nora was agreeing, or failing to disagree. She missed her queen dragon like half of her soul had gotten ripped out. But Kristo seemed to understand and worked with her to help her get a little more excited about the proceedings.

Her father had been by earlier in the week with her younger brother and sister. Their routine weekly visits always left her exhausted as she tried to put on a brave, healthy look on her face for her young siblings. She didn't want them, or her father, to worry about her. She was animated and engaged when they were here at the Weyr. Even her father didn't have any idea how half-dead his eldest daughter really was.

If not for Kristo, she would have tried to end her life a whole lot sooner. But now that he was here, it almost seemed like a betrayal of his love. It frightened her that she could be so depressed and guilt-ridden that she hadn't been strong like L'ren and B'ref. She hadn't told anyone about her feelings.

She looked across at Torene, all glowing and vibrantly healthy, and suddenly she was afraid.

"I'm so sorry I didn't suicide," Nora cried out, dropping her head into her hands. Her shoulders began to shake with the force of her sobs.

"What?" Torene asked, incredulous.

"Suicide!?" Kristo and M'hall queried at the same time. The other occupants at the table all chimed in with their concerns and remarks.

All the speakers paused as Torene got up and went around the end of the table to where Nora sat.

"Nora," Torene said, "we need you here, with us, if you can bear to be here. Without Tenneth."

Torene knelt down beside the older woman. "There is so much I need your help with. There are so many projects with 'Nora's' name on them," here Torene paused, then said, "And above all else, Kristo here, would be heartbroken and desolate if you decide to end the pain."

Nora was not looking at Torene, but she did appear to be listening. Her hands were quiet in her lap, but her fingers were moving sporadically.

"But try to remember, you are richly loved by several people, some right here in this Weyr, some not. Kristo loves you deeply. Your father, your brother and your sister all love you." Torene reached out her hand and gently brushed the tears from Nora's face. Nora looked up.

The entire table, including Nora was spellbound by this beautiful green-eyed young woman who sat on her haunches like it was a natural thing to do, listening with rapt attention to the healing balm her words seemed to be having on Nora.

"Kristo would become a hermit, I'd bet" Torene went on, "M'hall and I would be saddened with every thought of you, gone forever."

Torene brushed Nora's damp hair back from her face and settled the strands behind Nora's ear. Then she took both of Nora's hands into hers, and with Nora staring at Torene like she was a lifeline, Torene pronounced, "Every person in this Weyr would suffer in some way if you died, Norabeth Bergonin."

"Every weyrling would miss your gentle ministrations. Every person helping on Thread Fall days would miss your gentle, compassionate ministrations on the injured, either two legged or four legged!" Torene paused to let that message sink in.

"Tarrie and Deboreen would miss your assistance on heavy days here in the kitchen—how you just pitch in, intuitively knowing what needs to be done." Here Torene paused again. She leaned in to brush her cheek against Nora's. In that moment, she whispered, "Don't go, dear heart, please don't go." She waited a moment more, then withdrew, laid Nora's hands into her lap, leaned back slightly and got gracefully to her feet.

Everyone at the table, and even the nearly tables sighed with such a release of breath they hadn't known they were holding.

Nora looked up at Torene and gave her a watery smile and a small shake of her head. Torene smiled gently and blinked her eyes slowly to let Nora know she understood.

Torene sighed herself, and returned to her side of the table. She glanced at M'hall, who was gazing at her, speechless and mesmerized. Looking at her like she had healed someone. He was awed and a little afraid of his wife at that moment.

She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek, sat down and cleared her throat.

"Before we go on, could I just ask Nora if she thinks she will be needing help with her wedding planning?" Torene asked, settling a loving look at her friend across from her.

Nora nodded eagerly, "Yes! Poor Kristo is trying so hard, but we do need some help, since we really don't want to put off the wedding," Nora said shakily, still trying to absorb the words Torene had said and keep the darkness inside at bay.

That phrase seemed to galvanize the queenriders. Uloa, Tarrie, Jean, and the new queenrider, Annalisa all got up and went to Nora's side of the table to converse with her and Kristo about where they were at in the planning.

"Okay," M'hall said, "we have Threadfall day after tomorrow. You are all big boys and big girls, so I won't tell you what needs to be done, but I'll be around for a safety check after lunch today."

"Wingleaders, we also have one more thing to discuss," M'hall said with a very serious note in his voice. "We have two queen dragons recovering from the fight. They have been cleared by the veterinary staff and have been carefully exercising their wings and taking short flights to strengthen their lungs and wings."

"There is a lot of hope that the two dragons will be wanting to mate soon," and here M'hall paused. What he was about to say next was sure to irritate and frustrate some of the bronze riders, but it couldn't be helped.

"One of the queenriders is in a stable relationship with a bronzerider and there has been a request to close the flight to only three bronzes. Gesilith, Hallath and Brianth."

"What?" Brian yelled, "Why do you get to choose who rises with what queen?"

"Oh, and you think these three are the only three dragons who will listen to their riders when in mating lust?" D'van sneered.

"Take care how you speak to your Weyrleader, D'van," N'klas said with a hard edge on his voice.

"Why is it just these three?" someone else asked.

"Because if we can accommodate a request from a dragonrider for his or her dragon, we should, because we can," M'hall stated firmly, "The request has been made to limit the bronzes to those that can be requested to fall off the flight."

"No, no, no!" Tarrie had leaped up off her bench and went running to Boris, crying, "No! No! NO! I thought you loved me! You said you loved me, Boris!"

Boris, totally non-plussed, stood up to catch Tarrie before she slammed into him.

"I DO love you!" Boris declared, "That's why I asked for a closed flight!"

"I don't want ANY OTHER DRAGON flying my Porth!" Tarrie cried, "Why would you ask them to fly Porth?"

"I don't want any other dragon to fly Porth, but what can I do? She will want bronzes to chose from, won't she?" the man asked, perplexed. He thought he'd been helping, but it felt like he'd put his foot in it!

M'hall intervened, "Tarrie." He waited.

"Tarrie," M'hall said a little louder. The woman finally broke off eye contact with Boris and looked at her Weyrleader.

"Any rider may request accommodations for their dragon. Any rider. Any accommodation, and if it is within my power to grant it, I will," M'hall said. He waited a beat.

"I declare the mating flight of Porth to be closed to all but one dragon. Gesilith. This and all future flights, as long as the pair are together and wish the flights closed." M'hall declared loudly so all dragonriders could hear.

Tarrie collapsed into Boris' arms, her eyes on her Weyrleader with gratitude uppermost in her eyes.

"Now," M'hall said quietly so that the dragonriders had to quiet down to hear him, "we also have Catherine's Singlath who has been cleared. She asks only to be given more time. Which has been granted."

"Jean and her queen Greteth; Seyva and Butoth; Jen and Chamuth are all on schedule to be rising," M'hall continued, "Greteth should be first, Chamuth second and Butoth later this summer. So, keep watch over your dragons, girls, and you bronze riders, stay sharp for their lusting call." M'hall stood up. The bronze riders stood up, too.

"Let's leave the ladies to their planning and get our gear in order, shall we?" M'hall said, and quit the room.


	16. Rementh's Hatching and Porth Flies

Rementh's Hatching and Porth Flies

Julie heard the humming of the dragons through the drapery that hung across the doorway to her quarters and leaped to her feet. She quickly changed into the brightly colored long skirt and scoop neck tunic she had worn at Rementh's previous two hatchings_. _

_ This is Rementh's 3rd Hatching. She is now five years old_, Julie thought. These were the first truly pleasant thoughts she'd had since Rementh was flown by that blue runt, Dagmath. She had seen that dragonrider swaggering around, that M'tin. Scrawny little fellow. Swaggering around bragging about flying a queen.

_ MY queen _Julie thought, her brow tightening into a scowl as she thought of the incident. _He hadn't even the decency to come out of his love nest to acknowledge me!_ Julie thought indignantly. When word got around what the Weyrleaders had done in punishment, Julie thought it hadn't been near enough! _Big deal_, Julie fumed, _Restricted to their own quarters, no fooling around. Big deal. Firestone duty for a year. Big deal. If I'd been Weyrwoman, I'd show them a thing or two about discipline! _Her thoughts spiraled downward and her good mood evaporated.

She threw aside the drapery and went down the stone steps to the main floor, and strode across the cavern floor to the Hatching Ground. Rementh was way off in the back on the platform usually used by the queens for their beautiful golden queen eggs.

_There are no queen eggs for my Rementh!_ Julie thought regretfully_. Just these little Wherry sized eggs! _She stepped out onto the Hatching Ground sands and went to the raised area where her queen was awaiting the hatching of her eggs. The queen's eyes were whirling moderately in an orange color of disquiet and worry.

Julie stopped abruptly. _Where were all the candidates?_ she thought. _Where are all my candidates for the hatching? _She counted 8 young people standing there. Mostly boys, but a couple of girls.

Torene and M'hall had just arrived on the Hatching Grounds and were approaching the tiers of seating that had been carved out of the rock face.

"Where are all my candidates? Julie screamed at their backs, leaving the Hatching Ground and nearly catching up with the pair. The two quickly turned around and nearly ran the red-faced woman back to the hatching ground between them.

"Lower your voice and return to your dragon," Torene said quietly through clenched teeth.

Once Torene and M'hall had Julie cornered against the back wall of the hatching grounds, they let go of the small woman. Julie nearly crumpled onto the ground for dramatic effect, but something in M'Hall's look kept her upright.

"We have had Weyrleader Sean, Weyrwoman Sorka, Bay Tarkington and Bichárd d'Anato examine Rementh's eggs," M'hall said quietly. Julie gasped, then glared at her Weyrleaders.

"And for what purpose did you disturb my queen and contaminate the occupants of these shells?" Julie asked haughtily, "if some of these eggs don't hatch, I will…I will take it before the Coun-"

"We have already checked with the Council, and we were told to continue our investigation," M'hall said quietly interrupting Julie's tirade. "We had them check on the viability of the eggs. There are only 6 viable eggs out of the 14 eggs. Ten candidates are plenty."

"Even with six viable eggs, we know from the size of the eggs that we are looking at dwarf dragons or runt dragons. That is why we encouraged the younger candidates. To allow the dragons longer to mature," Torene said.

"You don't know they'll be runts or dwarves!" Julie huffed, "You're just being mean to me! I've seen green dragons in eggs that small!"

"It's possible," M'hall allowed, "but a couple of those eggs look bronze or brown, and those would make mighty small bronze, even brown dragons."

"You don't know that," Julie huffed again, "You're just…"

"Yes," Torene sighed, "M'hall is just being mean to you like he is so heartlessly mean to everyone!" Torene took a step closer to Julie and stared at the older girl intently.

_'She was, what, twenty-nine? Thirty years old?' _Torene mused to herself_. 'Six maybe 7 years my senior. She is beautiful. Petite. Maybe five foot two?'_ Lovely dark hair, classic oval face and exquisite long lashes surrounding her dark, dark eyes. But there was an unpleasant downward pull to her full, bow shaped lips. A scowl line marred the older woman's brow, seen under her fringe of hair above her eyes. _'She's never been seen with any one man more than once. I wonder why_?' Torene mused. The Pern sun had added a golden layer to her already bronze skin. She was fine looking and lithe in a feline sort of way.

"You have been given the same opportunities here on Pern as everyone else. More so, because your parents are charterers and bartered their way into a great wealth of land in a very short time. Why are you so dissatisfied?" Torene asked.

"Wealth!" Julie snarled. "All of our wealth was eaten up by Thread! I watched our cattle, pasturage, people working for us, ALL of it, swallowed up by THREAD!"

"So did a lot of other people," Torene said quietly, "and others paid a higher price. They were eaten alive." She waited a moment for Julie to acknowledge her comment or react with remorse, but Julie's face remained hard and set.

As Julie opened her mouth to say something, all three young people heard the bronze dragons hum intensify.

Julie's face cleared of its' frown and she smiled radiantly.

"Coming, Rementh! I'm coming, my heart!" and with that, she bolted away from the Weyrleaders like a startled fawn.

The Weyrleaders glanced at each other, rolled their eyes and turned to join the rest of the deliberately small group on the stone seats. They had not invited any non-dragon guests and had been lucky enough to have ten candidates who had been born at Fort Weyr and transferred over with their folks when Benden Weyr had been established.

Torene and M'hall had counseled them, telling those that weren't aware of the situation what had happened and giving them the choice. Only one boy had seemed reluctant, but had then acquiesced, saying "ANY dragon is better than NO dragon!"

The bronze dragons were humming in anticipation of the birth of the dragonets. It was instinctive, thankfully, that they hummed, since none of the dragons present were responsible for this clutch.

Tandoman, who was so desperate for a dragon he was willing to take a dwarf, stood near an egg that was the largest one in this clutch. It was mottled gray-blue and tan and it had been rocking for a short time and had a small crack in the shell. He remembered what Weyrleader M'hall had said about letting the occupant make its' own way out of the shell. He so wanted to tap on the crack and help it along.

"Come ON," Tandoman whispered, "Make a great big effort now and bang your way out of there!"

The other eggs that the science team and physician had deemed viable had been rocking, too, in varying degrees of agitation. The pitch of the humming from the bronzes rose a little more and a blue dragon flew into the hatching grounds before anyone really noticed his presence. He stretched out his neck toward the queen and uttered a low, supplicating sound. Rementh head snapped around and she hissed her displeasure. She rustled her wings, stood up on her hind legs and started toward the smaller blue dragon.

The people on the stone steps looked at each other and gasped. It looked like the queen was going to fight the blue! Did dragons fight each other? And where was the blue dragon's rider?

At that moment, the egg at Tandoman's feet split wide open with a very audible _ker-ack_, and a mottled blue and brown dragonet spilled out onto the sand, going nose first into the boy's foot. He yelped, and stepped back to prevent his other foot from getting pierced by the hard beak that had helped the dragonet break through the tough shell.

The big, ungainly head lifted. The two creatures-one two legged and one four legged-straightened up and met each other's gaze.

"He says his name is Maleth," Tandoman said wonderingly. T'man, as he would now be called, looked up into the rows of seats, waved ecstatically to his folks, then turned and walked to where Torene and M'hall were standing. They pointed him towards the weyrlings holding bowls of fresh meat.

"T'man," Torene said, and the young man's startled glance told her he had forgotten his honorific name change, "the other weyrlings will help you feed Maleth for the first time. Show you how to keep him from choking and gorging. Then Weyrling Master D'nen will help you bed him down for the night. You may return here when you are through."

T'man nodded, his eyes wide and shining. He headed off toward the weyrlings for Maleth's first feeding.

The disruption of the hatching had turned everyone's attention away from Rementh and Dagmath. Dagmath had settled as far away from the golden dragon as possible and still be on the hatching grounds and had hunkered down meekly onto his belly into the sand to show he was no threat. Rementh, for her part, had turned her back on the blue dragon and was watching the rest of her eggs.

Momentarily, two more eggs rocked violently and the next egg to crack open was slightly smaller than Maleth's egg. It split cleanly down the middle and a mottled blue-green dragonet emerged. Keeping its' feet, it staggered over to a girl who was standing by a very small egg. It barked at her and she turned her head and made eye contact. "Oh! Her name is Lemonth!" the girl said, as she caressed the dragonet's eye ridge. Forgetting her parents entirely, she made her way, with Lemonth awkwardly walking beside her, to where the Weyrleaders were standing.

"Isletta, you and Lemonth follow T'man and Maleth and get your young charge fed, then the Weyrling Master will help you bed her down." Torene said, glad that she had drilled herself in the candidates' names.

The third egg was still rocking, but the other 3 eggs that the medical team had deemed viable were not moving, nor were any of the others. Torene looked at M'hall with concern in her eyes and he shrugged. Better to not hatch than hatch something misshapen or grotesque and possibly lose a candidate if the pair linked.

At that very moment, the third egg that had been rocking and one of the quiescent eggs both shattered open abruptly. The candidates fell back in fear. Both occupants were dark gray, wingless and were huge headed. The one on the left turned to the girl closest to it, opened its huge jaws, let out a raucous scream and gathered itself for a leap at the girl. A bronze blur swooped down, snatched it off the sands and ascended up and out through the caldron opening.

The second, somewhat larger ugly gray beast had turned toward the nearest human, which happened to be Torene. Alaranth and Brianth both bugled in rage. M'hall took a mighty leap beyond his wife, swung and connected with the head and knocked the beast sideways onto the sand. Alaranth scooped the creature up into her massive jaws and followed the bronze through the caldera opening. The folks on the stone steps heard the crunch of bones and the death scream of the horrible creature.

M'hall gathered a shaken Torene and terrified candidate into his arms. Looking over the rest of the eggs, they saw movement in one more egg. Trepidatious, to say the least, the candidate that was near it stepped back a bit. It rocked a little more, then split open to show a dragonet with wings and mottled green and brown skin. Sighing with relief, the candidate stepped forward and helped the dragonet free of its shell. The two creatures' eyes met and the boy said, "He says his name is Bonth!" The two turned in tandem and followed the other pairs to the weyrlings who held the bowls of food. Raneld had heard what the Weyrleaders had told the other candidates and he nodded to Torene and M'hall as he made his way past with his new lifelong companion.

"That's going to be a hard name to abbreviate," M'hall chuckled softly to Torene. _'R'eld'_ Brianth told them both quietly. Torene glanced up at M'hall with a twinkle in her eye and then glanced down at Coriana, the young candidate saved by Boris' bronze Gesilith.

"I'm sorry, Coriana," Torene said sorrowfully, "I don't think you'll be bonding with a dragon tonight."

"That's all right," Coriana said, even though she looked disappointed, "those two gray things were scary! And I almost got eaten! I don't think I want any more excitement tonight." For being only twelve years old, Coriana was handling it remarkably well, Torene thought.

They were all three looking at the remaining eggs, when two more split open simultaneously. The candidates had already retreated to their families on the stone seats.

One was another gray ugly creature and it turned to the other hatchling, a petite, aqua colored dragonet and pounced upon it. Before the startled humans could do anything, Brianth, who had remained on the hatching grounds near his weyrmate, snatched up the gray beast and thrown himself into the air above the watchers and flew out the caldron opening.

Coriana tore herself from Torene's embrace and ran, sobbing, out onto the sands towards the little dragonet who was piously crying and looking about anxiously, bleeding from a wound in her side.

Coriana knelt down next to the perfectly proportioned, aqua colored dragonet and spoke soothingly to her. Their eyes met and the little dragonet laid her head on Coriana's shoulder. The young girl threw her arms around the little creature's neck and said, "She is Joyeth!"

Torene and M'hall had grabbed up some first aid supplies, especially the pot of numbweed and hurried out to the pair. The little creature was beginning to feel the pain and the soothing numbing gel worked its magic immediately. Thankfully, the numbweed was also a bit of an astringent. Torene and M'hall had no idea if the bite of that gray wingless creature was toxic or not.

"Coriana, we need to get you and Joyeth to the Weyrling Master right away and have him investigate this wound. Make sure little Joyeth is going to be okay," Torene said, "I'll have Queenrider Uloa tell your folks where we are so they can meet us there."

Torene silently communed with Uloa's queen Elliath. Then she spoke to Jess' bronze Hallath and N'klas' bronze Petrath to come collect the rest of the eggs. She and M'hall were of one accord when it came to destroying the rest of the eggs that were left. They were not sure how Rementh would handle it, and they did not want their guests to witness it. So Torene also bespoke Jean's Greteth to have Jean come get the guests and take them to the banquet hall immediately. She received affirmatives from all dragons contacted.

Then she turned her attention to Dagmath. The blue dragon had not moved through all the commotion. Torene thought maybe he was there to show support for his part in the flight. She asked him.

Dagmath started as the words filtered into his consciousness. He looked around for the speaker and his gaze rested upon Torene. _Yes_, he acknowledged, _I realize that I had taken a huge license, interfering with a queen's flight that way. But Rementh…Rementh is so beautiful to me, I could not resist._

Torene spoke to him, _Rest easy, Dagmath, no one will fault you for the love you hold in your heart._ And with that, she released him to leave.

The guests chattered away about the turn of events at this hatching and followed Jean into the banquet hall to enjoy the sweets and savories laid out for them there. They settled easily into the chairs and totally missed the two dragons swoop into the hatching grounds behind them and destroy the remaining eggs.

The dragons ground the eggs into nothingness and scuffed sand over them with their large back feet. Rementh had not moved from her spot at the back wall of the hatching grounds. She did nothing to prevent the bronzes from decimating her eggs. She held Julie captured within the circle of her wings and forelegs and for once, the woman had nothing to say, nothing at all.

Tarrie had felt restless and snappish most of the day. She had even nearly bitten Makayla's head off when the little girl had asked her a simple question. Usually the little girl's cheerful and bubbly presence was well tolerated by everyone in the lower caverns, but today, Tarrie felt pushed beyond endurance.

Suddenly, Mihall was at her side. Tarrie looked up at him in surprise.

"If you recall, Tarrie," her Weyrleader said, "it was decided that when Porth felt capable of rising to mate, you and B'ris would be the only two in the mating chamber, and Gesilith would be the only contender for Porth's affections."

Tarrie look at Mihall rather uncomprehendingly.

"Tarrie!" he decided to be abrupt, "your queen is preparing to rise!"

As she absorbed the meaning of the words and heard her queen squeal as she impaled her first wherry, Tarrie leaped to her feet and hurried for all she was worth with Mihall at her side. Part of her searched for other queen riders, relieved they were gone. Another part of her looked for looked for other bronze dragons, and they too, were gone.

It had been a couple of years since the queens' fight, and Porth had been allowed to heal and exercise at her own pace, to a degree, to help keep her from getting disheartened by the lengthy healing time of wing membrane. And then, she continued to exercise but seemed to have no compunction to rise.

Tarrie had swallowed her disappointment as she felt it was her good fortune to find a bronze rider who wanted a stable relationship, with or without the added benefit of dragon lust. And she felt that should have been enough. But she missed the extra "umph", the glorious extra release that a dragon-fueled lovemaking gave participants. Now, she was close to experiencing it again and she was nervous.

She quickly linked minds with Porth, who welcomed Tarrie with a squeal as she speared her second wherry. A well-disciplined dragon who remembered her lessons well even in the excitement of preparing to mate.

M'hall ushered Boris and Tarrie into the mating chamber and closed the large oaken door.

Boris looked at Tarrie and said "We should have just run up to our weyr. It's much more comfortable."

Tarrie grinned at her lover and bounced on the balls of her feet, excited about the upcoming mating flight.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, "this kind of reminds me of our first mating flight!" and she grinned mischievously.

Boris, delighted that his sweet Tarrie was quickly coming out of her despondency over the long convalescence, caught her up in his arms and kissed her passionately.

The two dragons outside trumpeted unexpectedly over this reversal of roles, and spurred on by their riders' desires, leapt into the air.

Porth, on wings decidedly healed and properly exercised to full capability, surged into the air, squealing and trumpeting her lust to her beloved mate, Gesilith.

Gesilith, hot on her trail, remained silent, saving all his energies for the flight ahead. He had plans.

His faceted eyes caught the heat signature of a thermal that would do nicely. He shifted his wing vanes and caught the thermal, effortlessly floating on the warmer air coming up fast on his beloved.

Porth was still surging ahead, confident that Gesilith was below her when suddenly a shadow from above covered her!

She jerked in surprise as two talons gripped her shoulder joints. Angry that some randy bronze had intruded upon her flight with Gesilith, she folded her left wing and flipped over, talons out to rip into the intruder's tender underbelly.

Gesilith trumpeted his conquest as he twined necks with his beloved, dodging her claws and thrusting home. He extended his wings fully to allow Porth to extend hers beneath him and they rode the thermal for some time to come.

"Boris! Boris! Boris, NOW" Tarrie gasped as the waves of exquisite pleasure washed over her again and built again to wash over her again and again.

Finally spent, Boris collapsed onto Tarrie, murmuring, "What a glorious comeback, my love."


	17. Chapter 17

First Day of Class

It never got old for the triplets, James, John and Joseph. It was the most fun they had ever had and they were already bouncing on the balls of their feet with impatience while their older brother and sister led the horses out, backed them each into their spot in front of the four-wheeled buggy and put on the harnesses. Then the boys clambered aboard, trying out different seats while Bran was getting Paul and Dane was double-checking the fittings on the harness.

It was a bright and clear morning in early fall as the team of horses started their daily trek around the mountain. Dane and his sister, Bran, had loaded up their younger siblings and took them to Fort Hold for their daily lessons. They had a deadline today. A very important deadline. Thread was scheduled to fall in the late afternoon. It was imperative that they reach Fort before the sun reached its zenith. That would give them plenty of time, even if they ran into trouble with the buggy.

Like their father had said, "Youz cud wallkit afore thread wud fall."

Neither Dane nor Bran wanted to heft 4 kids that far, although the older boys, the triplets, could walk part of the way, so they had checked the buggy over carefully for any deficiencies.

As they neared the first turn, they saw large shadows cross the road ahead and looked up quickly to see the dragons bringing their mother's students for their lessons. Bran and Dane looked at each other and laughed.

"We're taking these lil ones for their schooling and dragons are bringing adults for Mother's schooling!" Bran said, "I kinda wish I could have stayed. I like Ju and Theo, well, I actually like all the ladies!" Bran said wistfully.

"I know whatcha mean," Dane said with a nod, "Why are the men here? Do you know?"

"Yes," Bran said, "Gene and Thandle are both leather workers. Thandle is more of a harness maker, but not much need for carriage harnesses. At least, harness for four leggeds. He is searching for ways to increase the strength and durability of the dragon harness. Thinks it gives out too quickly. But gosh!" Bran exclaimed, "when you think about what precious cargo that harness keeps from falling in midair, I think it's amazing it lasts as long as it does!"

Another shadow passed over them, this one larger, meaning the dragon was lower and it covered the whole buggy momentarily. The two horses shivered and tried to take off, but Dane had anticipated them and kept a firm hand on the rein and a firm but gentle tone in his voice, encouraging the horses to remain quiet and calm.

_A runaway buggy would be catastrophic!_ Dane thought.

_Indeed, it would! _a voice said in his head. He looked up abruptly and saw the dragon waggle its front leg at him. He saluted the dragon and the dragon moved on through the trees.

"Wonder if that was R'bert and Jenoth?" Dane asked out loud.

_Yes, it is_, was the response.

"Incredible!" Dane exclaimed excitedly, "Jenoth just spoke to me!"

"Oh! That is wonderful!" Bran said, hugging Dane's arm.

"I wanna hear! I wanna hear! Wanear! I wanna hear!" All four little boys were wailing and pounding their knees with their curled-up fists and flailing about.

"That isn't a wish I can grant," Dane said firmly, "now settle down before you upset the horses with all this noise and banging around!"

_But I can grant that wish_ Jenoth replied in all the little boys' heads.

"More! More! More!" the boys cried.

_Enough,_ Jenoth said firmly, echoing Dane's tone. _When you are older, you will stand on the Hatching Grounds for a dragon of your own. Now obey!_

And with that, the little boys fell silent, staring up at the sky where a dragon had passed over them minutes before and spoke with them. They couldn't see the dragon anymore, but the conversation? They would remember that forever!

787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878787878788778787878787878787878787878787878787

Ju Adjai Benden, Jan Ragan, Barr Henson, Yashma, Theo Force-Tillek, and Deboreen Pullman all came by dragon. Gene Glick and his wife, Mary, walked from Fort Hold, where they now resided. All were welcomed into Sherilayn's beautiful stone home by Anwell himself, who happened to be at home on this first day of class.

He had broken an old wood adze handle while out in the woods the previous day and had made another one after returning home. He was sanding the wood down to get all the rough patches off and then oiling the handle to protect it from him and he from it.

Sitting on a stump as the dragons landed and their passengers disembarked was an entertainment he would not soon forget.

The dragons came in away from the barns where any farm animals might be lurking. They were considerate that way. After landing, they settled onto their chests and extended a leg to help assist the passenger getting off. But it didn't always work out as expected.

Ju Adjai simply swung a leg over and dismounted like the dragon was a very large horse. She alighted agilely on her feet and then turned and reached up for the rider to hand down her carisak.

"Thank you, Ashok, Falgith," Ju said, nodding first to the rider, and then to the dragon, patting the blue dragon gently on the shoulder.

As Ju turned, she noticed Anwell sitting on the stump, rubbing oil into a new handle, "Good morning, Anwell," she said. She had been primed not to call him 'Mister' as that tended to get a huff and a lecture from him.

He chuckled as the rider saluted and the dragon sprang up into the air. "G'mornin' ta youz, Judajai," Anwell said.

"Nice handle you're making there," Ju Adjai commented, stepping over to look closer.

"Thankee, thankee," the old bewhiskered man said, grinning, "betcha din 'spec ta see me!"

"No," Ju said, graciously, "But it's always a pleasure to see the man of the house!"

The door to the dwelling swung wide and Sherilayn stepped out. Ju Adjai always forgot how tall Sheri was, so gentle and so lavishly beautiful. _There will never be another woman like Sherilayn Anwell_ Ju said to herself.

"Come, come! It's a little chilly this morning" Sherilayn said warmly, "I've got klah going, tea is brewed and cold fruit juice." The two women leaned in to gently hug each other.

She looked at Anwell, "Honey, do you have enough to drink over there and are you needing anything else?"

"Yessum, an no, m'pet, I'z gud," Anwell said, then "'Nuther one's comin'!"

The three waited while another blue dragon landed. This time it was Yashma, with all her flowing robes and scarves. Blue Taneth settled onto his chest. Yashma waited for Daryl to dismount, but he couldn't swing a leg over behind him as he was accustomed to dismounting, so he lifted his leg over the hump in front of him and slid awkwardly down the side of his dragon to land on his feet but leaned back quickly against his dragon when his balance failed him. Then reached up to give Yashma a hand down.

Yashma apparently needed more than just a hand to get down as she refused the hand and waited. Anwell walked into the house and returned with a sturdy stool. He settled it just beyond her left foot and turned to Daryl.

"Youz gotsta stan' on da stool, retch up fer her han' an putter foot down on da stool all prit much atta same teim," the little deep south gentleman said.

"Here," Ju Adjai moved around Daryl, who was looking totally perplexed, and stepped onto the stool, took Yashma's outstretched left hand in her right hand and guided Yashma's left foot with her left hand onto the stool, "Now bend your right knee and slide!" Yashma made it, but was quite disheveled when she stood up. She shook herself and settled her many robes and scarves into a semblance of order and stepped regally down from the stool.

"Thank you, Daryl, for the ride," Yashma said formally.

"No problem!" the young man said, and with that, leaped aboard his beautiful blue and gave the order to rise.

The Glicks strolled up, holding hands, as Jerry on Manooth arrived with Barr and Jan. The agile, fit women slid off from either side of Manooth, and patting the brown dragon on the shoulders, thanked him and his rider for the trip. Jerry said that he was remaining today as sweeprider since Thread was predicted to rain down later that day.

"M'hall always sends one of us out early just in case something untoward happens or someone needs help getting back to cover," Jerry explained.

"Wal, youn' man, youz jes clim don from dat dere dragon o' yorn an' have sum of Sheri's tea," the old bewhiskered gentleman admonished Jerry.

"Can't say 'no' to that!" Jerry exclaimed and followed the rest of the folks into the cave, "I have a message for Miz Sherilayn to deliver from Thandle Daly."

"Is Thanny running late?" Sherilayn asked, handing Jerry a mug of warm honey tea.

"Uh, yeah!" Jerry stuttered, looking about the enormous living quarters of the Anwells, "this is magnificent!"

"Thank you, Jerry," Sherilayn said, continuing to hand out mugs and cups of her pupils' preferred drinks. She knew most of their preferences from when they all lived at Landing and she was involved in most of their daily lunches. Sheri had a great memory for such tidbits of information.

Deboreen and Theo came in together with Anwell bringing up the rear. All three were chattering like magpies as Deboreen and Theo were great friends through their husbands, Wil Pullman and Jim Tillek, and Anwell was the glue that held the two men together. He was a jack-of-all-trades and could fix anything that broke, including Jim's boat and Wil's machinery if the two were stumped about the problem.

"Wal, I bes be gettin' back t' da woods, Mama," Anwell said awhile later. "Gotsta be shore m' lummer is Thread bare."

"Love you, Anwell, you know that," Sherilayn said as he picked up the adze he had brought into the cave. He left and Jerry stared after him.

"What did he say about his lumber being thread bare? the rider asked.

"Oh! His humor," Sherilayn said, chuckling, "He has long planks of lumber drying out in the woods up on short stands he has made. He covers it all with sheet tin and rocks to keep it thread free. He calls it threadbare."

"But what about the wood itself, and why is this whole area so rich with plants and trees and grass and gardens?" Jerry asked, perplexed.

"Do you remember Ted Tubberman," Mary asked Jerry, edging into the conversation. The man shook his head. "You were probably standing on the hatching floor or learning about your dragon when my long-dead husband fired off his stupid, ill-advised homing capsule."

The whole group had grown quiet. They knew this was hard for Mary to talk about and harder to admit she had been married to the man. But some folks did not know the story, so it was less humiliating.

Jerry nodded, "I was learning all about dragons from the time I was 16. Never thought much about anything else. What had happened?"

"Nothing much and that's beside the point," Gene intervened for his wife, "Ted was a botanist. And he found these ancient grubs that could not have survived incursions of Thread if they didn't have some defense mechanism. Ted enhanced the mechanism. They are what have been keeping the Anwell forests, gardens and cropland so lush and vibrant." He was looking at Sherilayn for verification and she was nodding.

Then he glanced at Mary and saw the relief on her face, and knew he had done the right thing, again. He reached over and gave Mary's hand a squeeze. He loved Mary to distraction and hated it when she threw the homing capsule into the conversation. The man had been an ass, Gene felt. Screwing around with those big, wild cats, and the homing capsule. Those things were well outside Ted's area of expertise. But the grubs? The grubs were a good thing, a very vitally needed good thing, and all Mary really need concern herself with about Ted. The rest? To hell with him.

"So, let's get started, shall we? We will be well protected from Thread in here, and Jerry will take back word that we are all safe, right Jerry?" Sherilayn asked, raising an eyebrow his way.

"What about Mist.." Jerry started to say, Sherilayn interrupted him with a small hand gesture.

"Anwell, as he prefers to be called, has a small cave right near where he will be working and he pays strict attention to the grubs and the animals," Sherilayn told him, "the grubs come up to feed, the animals go down into their dens. Anwell is very capable of taking care of himself."

Theo laughed, "Very capable of that _and_ taking care of whomever else _isn't_ taking proper precautions!" She and Deboreen chuckled.

"So, Jerry, away with you, my good dragonrider, and do your sweeps!" Sherilayn smiled and ushered him out. She returned to the kitchen and said, "Okay, we have wasted enough of the morning. Let's get this classroom organized!"

And they did. As Sherilayn pulled things out of storage and handed them to students and told them where to put the items, things progressed fast and in next to no time the area Sherilayn had set aside for schooling was well provisioned. Next came going over the equipment. The spinning wheel was pulled in from the master bedroom and settled in front of a chair. The baskets of yarn and fibers next to the chair.

Her loom was a huge affair, built right where it stood by Anwell and Sherilayn out of local woods. It was exquisite to look at with its golden highlights gleaming in the lamplight and sunlight streaming in the windows. It was a treadle operated warp-weighted loom with an immense spread for any number of warps.

It was considered a two-person loom because its size across meant that usually two people were needed to throw the shuttle and catch the shuttle that carried the horizontal thread or yarn across the warps from one side of the loom to the other side. But Sherilayn, because of her size, had a longer than average armspan, could use the loom by herself, flicking her shuttle from side to side with only a left-to-right rocking step to augment her reach.

It looked forbiddingly large, and the ladies said as much. Sherilayn laughed, "I wanted a big loom so that if I wanted to do a tapestry for a wall, I wouldn't have to wait until Anwell could take time out to help me build a second loom. It is customizable, as you can see here. I can unbolt these three sections and have half the size loom, an innovation that Anwell made for me himself."

"It takes all thicknesses of thread, yarn and even thin rope, if you wish. The tapestries it is capable of carrying can be of heavy weight yarns that could be sheared, if desired, to create a plush, full look, or leave it unsheared," Sherilayn said, as she ran a loving hand over the wood, "I did those three tapestries of our landing and disembarking on this loom." She pointed to the wall above the seating area opposite the kitchen.

The three tapestries were longer than they were wide, with fringed edges on all four sides. The colors were vibrant and the tapestries beautifully wrought. The tapestries put the class participants right into the scene with the people at the edges nearly life sized and very recognizable. Admiral Paul Benden and Emily Boll were chatting on the right side of the middle panel. Joel Lillienkamp was directing someone off the scene to the left with his trademark sweeping left arm in the air. There was an air of controlled chaos in the center of the tapestry and one of the shuttles, in the background was being unloaded.

Barr gasp and ran to the right-hand tapestry. She pointed, overcome. She and Sallah were welcoming the Red Hanrahan family to Pern. This tapestry only had one viewpoint. Immediate immersion into the scene, at the entrance of the shuttle _Yokohama_.

The tapestry held Sorka, up on her tiptoes, gorgeous titian hair up above her like it was trying to keep up with her bouncing body. Her eyes were luminous and wide open with excitement. Her mother, Mairi was looking at Red, proud and excited. Brian was standing in front of his dad, with a sullen look on his face, having been momentarily distracted from exploring the new planet by his sister accidentally mashing his foot.

Sallah was so lifelike it almost scared Barr. Her beautiful brunette hair with red highlights floating in the wind, her ever-present half-smile on her lovely face, eyes sparkling with joy and good humor.

"You even," Barr stopped and swallowed hard, "Sheri, you even have her dimple showing," and she burst into tears.

Sherilayn hurried over to Barr and took the younger woman into a warm, comforting embrace. The other students gathered around, murmuring words of comfort and concern.

Barr hadn't really been able to grieve for Sallah. Handling her brood of children with Thread so new and terrifying had been enough to deal with at the time of Sallah's death. But now, so many years later, all the feelings of horror and outrage filled her. She pulled back from Sheri, her eyes still full of tears, but her face a mask of naked hatred.

"If that..woman, that horror of a selfish, narcissistic human being had made it back to Pern, I would have choked her slowly to death for what she did to Sallah!" Barr ground the words out through gritted teeth. She turned from Sherilayn and the others and started pounding her fists against the wooden arms of the sofa.

"Get in line, sweetheart," Gene said rather harshly. He felt a good dose of hard reality might snap Barr out of her destructive tantrum.

Sherilayn caught his eye and nodded. "You'd have had to fight Tarvi Telgar for the honor if there was anything left of the wench after he was through with her," Sherilayn let the sentence fade into the silence.

Barr got hold of herself and looked up, suddenly embarrassed. Her face felt hot and of course, wet and swollen. She wiped her face with her hands.

"Sherilayn, these hangings are exquisite," Barr said, turning to the people gathered around, she forced a small smile and said, "I am so sorry for the outburst."

"No problem" "We've been through it, too" "Wish things had turned out different for Sallah." "She was a lovely lady, inside and out" All the students chimed in with their comments.

They turned to the last tapestry. It was of another shuttle. Drake Bonner and Kenjo Fusaiyuki were consulting with Ezra Keroon about something. Totally immersed in mechanical things, oblivious to the lush world around them. This must have been the last trip, because three spacers were taking parts of the shuttle out, truly saying "we are home."

"Okay my friends, my students, our first day will be going over fibers available to us here on Pern, and what we can do with them. I was going to do comparisons with the fabrics we are used to, but realized that would be superfluous, because after what we have is gone, Pern's materials will be the only materials available," Sheri said, as she glanced around. Her students nodded and murmured assent.

Sherilayn plunged into the topic wholeheartedly. She had samples of the plants available for weaving. Potted and growing to give her students an idea of what the plants looked like in the field. There were thin, wispy ferns and plants with heavy shards for leaves. There were also Earth seed crops that were growing well in the Pernese soil. Wheat, rye, corn and barley. Food, yes, but very useable for linen-like fabric.

Then Sherilayn told them about the cane crop she and her family had found in the bog in their woods. She said that after harvesting the cane sugar and soaking the leaves and stems, they were pounded, shredded and allowed to dry, it was almost like bamboo to weave.

"One of our young dragonriders brought me a sample of some 'fluffy stuff' she called it. She had found it in a field in the Southern Hemisphere," Sheri said, and with that she brought out a large carisak made of leather. She opened it and drew out a heavy dark stem that looked perfectly dead until the top emerged from the sak.

"Cotton!" Ju Adjai exclaimed, "Pern has cotton?"

"Well, it does at the moment!" Sherilayn said, "I had Amy take me to where she found it and we harvested all there was in that field. We have the seed pods so we will see how well it grows in the shorter growing season of the Northern hemisphere. And if we can't get it to grow outdoors, we can always grow it hydroponically."

"That would be amazing! Growing our own cotton and flax," Ju said, "I was beginning to despair finding something to wear besides _LEATHER_!" and with a sweep of her hand down the front of her own body, she emphasized the fact that she was indeed clad in slim fitting leather slacks, a trim leather jerkin and a white cotton shirt that was beginning to show signs of wear the cuffs.

"And there will never be a figure it fits better," someone remarked behind her. She whirled and ran to the man standing just inside the open door of the hold. He caught her as she leapt up to plant a kiss on his smooth cheek.

"Thandle Daly, trust you to make an entrance!" Sherilayn drawled, smiling at the reunion the two were having. After the kiss on the cheek, Ju Adjai Benden turned and strolled back to the other students within the crook of T handle's arm.

Everyone was trying to look anywhere but at Paul Benden's widow in the arms of another man only a few years after his death. They thought that Ju had truly loved her husband and this…display surprised them

"Everyone, I want you to meet my brother, Thanny!" Ju Adjai Daly Benden said, grinning from ear to ear. "With Thanny on the bottom side of nowhere down at Southern Boll, I seldom get to see him! He keeps telling me that now I'm alone, I should move down, but I _like_ where I am! When Paul and I moved back to Landing, and then made the Crossing to Fort, I was in the center of things again, able to be of use to folks that needed help!"

Everyone knew this was an understatement, as Ju Adjai was always a driving force to get things organized and running smoothly. If anyone needed anything up and functioning properly, they gave the project to Ju and sat back and watched her work.

After the disruption of her brother, Ju quickly settled down and helped the group concentrate on the information that Sherilayn was so freely giving them. For the better part of that first day, Sherilayn gave them an outline of what she hoped to impart to them over the next several weeks. They would meet two days a week and Sherilayn had split up the information into palatable units. Growing the crop, and what to watch for in the way of disease or parasites. Harvesting the crop. Which crops did better in what types of soil. Then a segment on composting. Kitchen scrap composting, horse manure composting and which did better with what crop. Finally, after harvesting the grain, preparing what was left for spinning into thread.

On her agenda for the following month was vegetable dyes and how to make them. Which dyes went best with which types of spun thread or yarn. And speaking of yarn, they would also be shearing the sheep, alpacas and llamas that belonged to the Anwells. This presented a whole new set of dying projects and spinning thread and yarn.

The poor students' heads were spinning by the time a lunch break was called. Sherilayn had made corn muffins the day before, and laid out a spread fit for a king. Corn muffins, sliced cheeses, hard salami, freshly canned sweet pickles, with freshly baked little cherry tartlets for dessert. She had buttermilk and milk for her guests, if they so preferred, or water or klah to drink.

About the time they finished up their lunch, M'hall and Jerry strode to the door and Sherilayn let them in before they had a chance to knock. They politely refused the food offered them and got right down to business.

"Thread will be falling here shortly. Have you everything under wraps that needs to be? M'hall asked the mistress of the hold.

"Yes," Sherilayn replied. "The children shuttered the barns before they left for Fort earlier today and we will shutter the hold as soon as you are out the front door." She turned to Thandle. "You _did_ put your horse in the barn when you arrived?"

"Yes," Thandle said, "I did exactly as my dear sis said. I stripped the saddle and bridle off of Misty, put Misty in a stall in the barn and closed the door securely behind me." He nodded at each point.

"Good!" Sheri said, "The animals do spook a bit with Thread. So being in the barn with others is the best for them. They huddle together, taking comfort from each other."

"Perfect," M'hall said, looking at the strapping, healthy middle-aged man with his arm around Paul Benden's widow. But he knew who Thandle was and the glint in his eye said as much. "We will be on our way. We will return when Thread has been cleansed from the sky to check on you. But if I know anything about the Anwells, it is this: They are well prepared for any eventuality! Good Day to you folks!"

And with that, he and Jerry left. The students flowed outside and helped pull down the shutters and affix them to the stone house with great metal clips. Once that was done, they all returned to the kitchen and their interrupted lunch.

The afternoon brought Threadfall on the homestead, but very little noise was heard from outdoors because of all the chatting going on inside the homestead. The students were sorting through bags and bags of fabric, thread and cordage to good effect. The stacks of usable products far outweighed the small amounts that bugs had gotten into over the years in storage.

Sherilayn had deliberately not sorted through them, figuring it would be good practice for her students to identify the goods in the bags as cotton or other. She had been right. It was. The students could identify cotton from cotton blend, manmade 'rayon' from Pern's equivalent-"bog bottom fabric." It had been an enlightening day all around.

"You are going to have to come up with a better name for that fabric than 'bog bottom,'" Ju Adjai laughed. She held up some fabric in a particularly luscious shade of purple. "When the color comes out this beautiful, it's got to have a gorgeous name!"

"Howz 'bout 'Sheri-Ann,'" Anwell said from the open doorway where he stood with M'hall and Jerry. Behind them, the occupants of the room could see the dragons settled on the ground, looking in the windows.

"Yes! YES!" Ju exclaimed. The others chimed in, all agreeing.

"I bin wanton ta name it 'Sheri-Ann' eber sin she dun dyed da fust piece o' cloth," the old man said, "It's jist dat purdy! Ma shirt iz made offit."

"So it is! Then it's settled!" M'hall exclaimed, "I declare the new color to be 'Sheri-Ann' in honor of its' maker, Sherilayn Anwell!"

"Here, here!" "That's it!" "Way to go!" the students all chimed in.

Sherilayn flushed with pride and ducked her head. She was totally pleased that her husband loved the new color that the bog cane produced.

She had woven the cloth from the bog bottom leaves and shreddings on a lark, because she had no idea if it would spin _or_ weave, and it had been that first piece of the fabric that Anwell had seen. He had wanted it made into a shirt for himself, which she had done, and he wore it nearly constantly. As it began to wear thin, she had made him another one, this time in a slightly looser weave and found that the fabric draped beautifully. She felt it would make wonderful gowns for gathers.

She was snapped out of her musings by M'hall declaring: "So Threadfall is over and Thread has been charred from the sky. And NO INJURIES!"

Everyone cheered and went outside. There wasn't anything to see, because the dragons had done their job very well and the grubs had done their jobs very well. But as they were outside, the dragons taking the students back to their own holds began to arrive.

"It's been a long, but productive day," Sherilayn pronounced, "I am very proud of all of you for this great beginning. We will meet again in two days' time here at the same hour. Is that good for everyone?"

"Perfect," said Ju, who appeared to be the small group's spokesperson. Helping Yashma back on the dragon was another production. Ju wondered why the woman felt the need for all her robes, but didn't ask. She had lost her husband to Thread in the very first Fall and had been bereft for months and months after. She was finally becoming a little more social and Ju did not want to say anything that might cause the woman to retreat back into her lonely existence. So she patted Yashma's foot after she helped the woman clamor aboard, looked up and gave Yashma a smile. Yashma gave a tight little smile in return.

Her ride had arrived and she asked Thandle to come to Fort and stay for a few days since it had been months since they'd seen each other.

"Sure, honey," the big man said, "I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't wait for me to eat dinner, okay? I'm going to be talkin' to Mihall and Anwell for just a little bit and will want to find Patrice and Stev, if at all possible." Ju mounted up and away her dragon went, headed for Fort.

"Stev has not been around for quite some time, Thandle," Mihall said. Anwell had stepped out of the dwelling at that moment and heard what Mihall had said.

"Yessum, strange that. Stev jis upan' dispeared. Almos' like he dun jump'd da planet," the little old geezer said, 'Him n' dat Bitra varmint wuz thick for 'while. Didja know she owned thet ford-five carat ruby from da 'nitial Pern survee? Yessum, got thet stone from her great-gramman."

"Really," Thandle said, looking at Mihall and just shaking his head, "That explains why Stev was thick with her. Stev was always lookin' for a way to get rich quick. Why he ever came to Pern is a mystery. Same with her."

The old man grinned, then shook his head, too. "No tellin' wut dem two wuz tryin' ta pull. It didna work out nohow. She dead, he gone. End o' story."

"Way before my time, I'm afraid," Mihall said drily, "What did you need to talk to us about?" Mihall said, turning to Thandle.

"Well, I'm looking to do a little trading at the moment," Thandle said, looking from Anwell to Mihall. "I'd like to get back to Fort, but I don't want to ride. Marshala said I could leave Misty here with the Anwells and the kids could take her back to Fort on their next school day. I would truly prefer to bum a lift with you and your dragon, if I may?"

"But I'm not going to Fort, Thandle," Mihall said with a mischievous look in his eye.

"Not even to chat with your parents?" Thandle looked down at his shoes, then glancing up, he saw the glint in Mihall's eye. He looked much more hopeful.

Yessum, we cun put up Misty fo a day," Anwell said, grinning at the pair,  
Youz jis git on dat dere dragon an' fly on home!"

"Yes, Thandle, let's just get on Brianth and get on home," Mihall broke down laughing, "but first let's say good-bye to your hostess."


	18. Chapter 18 The Daring Rementh

The Daring Rementh

It had been well over 3 months since the first day that Rementh had taken Julie out of the normal workings of the Weyr and kept her from disrupting the lives of all other humans. Rementh had kept Julie with her virtually every minute of every day. The only times the two were apart were toilet breaks. The relief was felt through the entire Weyr. People spoke gaily to one another. There was singing during the work day as there had never been before. Deboreen and little Makayla, especially, loved to make up songs about what they were doing.

Rementh had gained weight with this new way of life as she rarely flew. Her meals were brought to her along with Julie's, in their quarters, or, if Rementh took Julie out, the meals were brought to them wherever they were. While Julie was loving this new freedom, she lavished attention on her beautiful gold dragon. Attention and affection, but not grooming and oiling as was her dragon's need.

Rementh was restless this day and couldn't pinpoint the reason. She had not flown Thread or practiced maneuvers with the other queen dragons and dragonriders since taking on this experiment. She missed the other queens and riders, but refused to dwell on it in case Julie felt her thoughts and got aggravated.

They were out of the Weyr today, on the far side of the mountain away from the Weyr entrance. The beautiful grapevines went as high up the mountainside as could be planted and came down almost to the waters of the lake. The luscious red-gold orbs were nearly ready to harvest, and the air was heady with their sweet aroma.

Julie gazed around her in satisfaction. She didn't miss the chores. She didn't miss people, except as servers to her every whim. She had Rementh, and in Rementh's eyes, Julie felt she was also golden. She was lithe and trim and lovely to look at, with small upright breasts and a flat belly. She knew she looked great. She, too, felt a restlessness on this gorgeous late fall day. But she gave herself up to her swimming. Since it was just her, she had slipped out of her wrap and dove in with a little splash. She paddled a moment, then lengthened her stroke and kicked with her feet. She rolled over on her back and floated, letting the sun beam down on her.

Since Rementh had taken over Julie's life, Julie appeared to be much happier. She laughed at the antics of the herd beasts. She draped herself over her dragon's shoulders and hugged Rementh and patted her constantly. She waved gaily at people going about their daily chores. They waved back and said thankful prayers that she was happy and occupied.

As the day wore on, Rementh got more and more restless, and then it hit her. That lusting call. But she was too far away from the Weyr to be able to get Julie all packed up and there in time.

She sent a call to Alaranth, _I need…I have need of bronze or brown dragons willing to fly me and whose riders are willing to be with Julie, please. We are at Skyview Lake._

Alaranth was sitting in her Weyr, preparing to leave when she got the message.

_Rementh is at the lake beyond the next rise behind the Weyr and needs bronze or brown dragons. _Alaranth sent the message to Torene. _She is about to rise._

Torene gasped. She was in the lower caverns having a late afternoon snack with Tarrie, Uloa and Verona. Tarrie and Torene's two infants were on the floor of the cavern on a huge pile of furs, sleeping. The three women looked at her in surprise.

"That was Julie's dragon, Rementh," Torene said. Torene looked at Uloa. Uloa was in a stable relationship with T'mas and Torene did not want to jeopardize that, but T'mas had bedded Julie before. _Surely there are some alternatives!_ Torene scolded herself. _Think!_

"What does she need?" Uloa asked. Verona was watching the 3 queenriders with high interest. They had forgotten a non-dragonrider was in their midst. She was seeing a side of life she rarely got to see.

"Um, oh" Torene brought herself back to the conversation, "She is ready to rise and needs a couple bronze or brown dragons willing to fly her whose riders are willing to bed Julie. She's at the lake at the bottom of Mallibeau's Hold."

"Well, she can't have T'mas and Helmith!" Uloa exclaimed.

"I know, I know," Torene said, with a placating hand on Uloa's arm, "and I'm not asking Boris either, Tarrie," Torene looked over at Tarrie with a small smile.

"And you can't send M'hall," they both chimed in at once. "Brianth would refuse," Uloa continued, "if M'hall tried to do his duty as Weyrleader!"

Torene pondered the question for a moment more.

"S_omeone will be there very soon, Rementh_," Torene told the restive golden dragon telepathically and in voice for her companions' benefits.

"There's D'van, G'rd, Lane and Brian," Uloa said, "They're young enough to want to poke anything that won't run off!"

"Uloa!" Tarrie exclaimed, glancing at Verona as she did so.

Torene and Verona just grinned, and Torene nodded. "Good choices. Thanks, Uloa," Torene approved. She paused half a beat. "Are they TOO young?" she asked, "Have they had any run-ins with Julie?"

Uloa and Tarrie looked at each other, then at Torene, "EVERYONE has had run-ins with Julie! Let's hope their weyrlingmaster instilled some proper conduct in them!"

Torene sent out the message to the dragons and asked for an answer. She received four affirmatives and went on to request that they do their best to hide the riders in the woods near the lake so any stray holders wouldn't be appalled at the sight of dragonriders coupling in broad daylight. Again, she received the affirmative response.

Rementh received the message from Torene that four bronze dragons would be there momentarily and Rementh realized she should have let Julie know what would be happening before now.

When Julie heard that four bronze dragons and dragonriders were on their way for Rementh's flight, she got highly agitated.

"Rementh! Why didn't you give me some warning! I'm here in the lake, nude, and about to be having company in just..."

And with those words, three bronzes materialized over the middle of the gorgeous blue lake. The riders looked for a place to land and saw their prize naked and apparently waiting for them.

Rementh rumbled an apology, then realized she didn't have any herd beasts handy for a quick blooding. To her astonishment, D'van, G'rd and Lane each dismounted from their dragons and reached up behind the second ridge and brought down a live trussed wherry. The riders left the wherries on the ground and walked to the lake's edge.

All three knew Julie. Knew her whole history, because they had grown up with her lording it over them as weyrlings. Now, this instant, seemed like, well, revenge.

"We didn't know if Rementh would need her wherries trussed, or wanted them loose, G'rd said cuttingly, like the golden dragon needed the wherries trussed to be able to catch them. Lane dug his elbow in to G'rd's ribs and said, "Torene asked that we bring them and that we get under shelter of trees, to protect landholders from dragonriders' ways."

D'van and G'rd stepped into the water to assist Julie out.

Julie was conflicted. She knew these three riders. Lane was the best of this trio.

_Rementh, when it's time to fly, fly so that Barth can catch you!_ Julie sent the message to her dragon with a catch in her throat as she watched the other two young men get closer. They each held out a hand to her in the almost waist high water. They were staring at her. The upright perky breasts, the slim physique of her. The firm skin, her small heart-shaped face, her dark eyes enormous as she stood there, arms hanging, not sure what was going to happen. They continued to stare.

Lane looked at the two men and saw the lascivious look on D'van's face and could only assume that G'rd felt the same_. Barth, I've never asked this of you before, but I want you to CATCH THIS QUEEN!_

He felt more than heard his dragon's response and glanced around quickly to find Barth near the lake's edge, watching Rementh. Tonath and Zireth were watching their riders, and not paying attention to the tension that felt so palatable to Lane, Barth, Julie and Rementh.

Rementh was looking vibrant and golden in contrast to Julie, who looked wan, pale, and afraid. Julie reached out to take the hand of G'rd, who seemed the lesser trouble of the two men facing her in the water. G'rd gave the hand he held a tug, which pulled Julie off balance. She fell into G'rd's arms and he snugged her up close.

"Well, well, queenie," he mocked, "You're all ready to go now, aren't you?!" G'rd dropped his head and tilted Julie's head back with a hand in her hair at the back of her head. He kissed her as she tried to evade his arms and squirmed unsuccessfully to slip out of his grasp. Julie's squirming was actually the worst thing she could have done. It brought her nude body in closer contact with the dragonrider than she wanted and it had quite an effect on G'rd. His arms became like bands of steel around Julie's body, then a hand slipped down her leg.

'That's quite enough," Lane said as he clipped G'rd's shoulder with a blow that numbed the younger man's arm momentarily and Julie jerked herself out of his arms to land in Lane's. D'van reached out to grab at Julie and Lane moved just enough for the groping hands to miss.

"Enough!" Lane snarled, "Dragonmen do not behave like drunken fools! We behave circumspectly regardless of time, place or opportunity!"

"Oh, c'mon, Lane!" D'van snapped, "This is JULIE! Little Miss Hoity Toity of the Weyr! Miss 'I'm too good for Wingseconds!'"

"I know who she is," Lane ground out, "She has refused my offers, rebuffed my advances on more than one occasion. But she is a queenrider and we do not treat our queenriders like this!"

As the three dragonriders came up out of the lake with Julie still in Lane's arms, a fourth dragon appeared overhead. Brian on Terenth hovered a few moments, taking in the scene. He smiled unpleasantly. _This is gonna be fun!_ he thought, _Bringing up short the wench who was always so snippy around bronzes who aren't leaders._

Brian landed Terenth near Tonath and Zireth. He dismounted and shed his jacket, gloves and helmet and stowed them in a carisak attached to Terenth's harness.

As they came up out of the lake, Julie bent down and picked up her discarded wrap. D'van started to reach for it and saw Lane narrow his eyes and give a brief but sharp shake of his head. He dropped his hands, but he was thinking, _Who does Lane think he is? Just because he's older than us by a couple years doesn't make him our leader! Just wait. When the flight is over, anything can happen!_

Rementh had moved over to the wherries that were still trussed and complaining loudly about it, and with a slicing motion with her front claw, she freed the first wherry. She let it flounder to its feet, shake all over to settle its' feathers and take off running. She waited a minute and then swept into the air to pounce on the wherry with pinpoint accuracy, slicing its jugular cleanly in two.

She needed no urging from Julie. She had learned well from her past mistake. She blooded the wherry, threw aside the limp carcass, and pounced on the second and third wherry, slicing their bonds then impaling each one as it began to run off.

She was glowing golden and looking at her four bronzes, stood up on high on her back legs and beat the air with her great golden wings. The four bronzes were getting excited at the sight of the beautiful golden dragon. She let out a coquettish squeal and swept off the ground and into the sky, catching two of the dragons totally flat footed.

The riders had moved off from the lake's edge into the overhang of a stand of weeping willow trees where Julie had spread her outside rugs earlier in the day. Though almost in the throes of their dragons' flights, three of the young men were looking at each other and making plans with intense stares, nods and shifting of eyes and single whispered words.

They had decided that whoever got the queen rider first would hand her off to the next and the next, and their plan may have worked except for two things. One predictable, the other totally unpredictable.

Lane's Barth caught Rementh. Julie's supine body was his while Barth was engaged with Rementh. They were both more aware of their surroundings than was usual in a mating flight. In the mating chamber, the dragonriders whose dragons had failed to catch the queen left the chamber, leaving the couple alone. Here, the couple was perfectly aware that the other three dragonriders had not left the area under the trees, and were, in fact, waiting for the couple to finish. Both felt rather constrained with an audience, and Julie, especially, since she could see their faces from where she lay, felt very exposed. As Lane finished, he rolled off, sat up, then stood up, adjusting his clothing. Julie sat up also, reaching for her robe, then standing with her back to the men, slipped on her robe.

The three dragons had returned to the lake's edge awaiting their riders. They had been restrained from entering the lake, which would have an enjoyable pastime for the three, but they still had their flying harnesses on.

Barth and Rementh returned from their flight and landed closer to the trees. Both felt the uneasiness of their riders, and Rementh especially, since she had been spending all her time with Julie, felt the underlying fear and dread emanating from her rider. She also felt the fury emanating from the three standing riders, and this bothered her even more.

Rementh queried her rider, _Shall I come and get you? I feel that you feel you are in danger_.

_Yes!_ Julie responded telepathically, _Yes, Rementh, please come and get me! _

Julie fully expected Rementh to barge into the little alcove in the trees. But Julie sounded so upset that Rementh did the unforeseen. She went _between_ and came out next to her rider. Julie gasped quietly, reached out and grabbed her dragon with one hand while holding her robe closed with the other. As Julie grabbed her foreleg, Rementh wrapped her rider in both her front legs and went between again. And although Julie was nearly frozen to the bone, she was a-wing in the air above Benden Weyr, safe, then her dragon landed on her ledge.

Julie began sobbing and in a stumbling run, ran into the bathing room to get warm.

Rementh asked _You are all right now, Julie?_

Julie responded, _No._ _Yes, Rementh, yes, I will be fine. You have saved my life, yet again_. The water was splashing as the woman slopped it over herself, knowing that going in as cold as she was would probably be too much for her system to handle.

_The leaders need to know about this_, Rementh said.

_NO! _Julie yelled in her head, then, more calmly_, No, Rementh, those three would only deny it. Lane and I could never prove anything. But how you got me out will remind them forever to NEVER underestimate you, my love!_

Rementh knew better than to argue, and it did make sense, as she had felt the utter astonishment of the four dragons and their riders, when she appeared next to Julie on the ground. This was something that they had been trained never to do. Go _between_ while on the ground and land again on the ground coming out of _between_. It had frightened the men and awed the dragons.

Julie was right about the warm water. Usually so wonderful, now it made her system overload and she tried her best to scramble out of the stone pool. She almost made it, got one leg over the edge, when she fainted, falling out of the bath onto the stone floor. Just as she was losing consciousness, she heard her golden dragon query her: '_Julie, heart of my hearts, what's happening? You are fading from me!' _

When Rementh heard the thud of Julie's body hitting the floor, she pushed head and shoulders through the partition between the dragon weyr and the rider's quarters. She pushed herself the rest of the way in and took the few steps to the bathing room and although she did not fit through the opening, she could reach Julie's foot with her front claw. She gently pulled the girl to her, then snagging a folded blanket from the foot of the bed on her way back out, she carried Julie to her weyr. She spread the blanket with one front claw and a back leg, laid her rider's quiet form on it, and wrapped her up. Picking up her light bundle, she settled herself into her weyr with her beloved rider in front of her and nestled her head around Julie to help warm her up gently and slowly.

Rementh felt she had acquitted herself rather well this day. And now she would have a clutch worthy of the Benden name. She felt vindicated by the flight itself. It hadn't been as long as some, but it was a good flight. She would have many eggs from this flight. Her shame would be erased, she felt.

Julie was beginning to stir. She looked surprised to find herself wrapped in her bed blanket and in her dragon's weyr. But she was toasty warm and feeling no ill effects from the episode of _between_ and her bathing pool. In fact, she was getting hungry. She'd have cookies and milk or crackers and buttermilk. And of course, Rementh could have whatever she wanted.

Again, Rementh spoke to Alaranth and asked the queen if she would please relay the messages that the mating flight had gone well, with Rementh being caught by Barth and could they please have snacks brought up here. Some sweets for Julie, and milk or buttermilk, whichever was handiest. She would like raw wherry, please, but cooked would be all right, if that was all that was available.

Torene stomped her foot. Drat that woman. It was almost not worth all the extra work to let her stay alone with her dragon 24/7. Julie was behaving better, or so it appeared, but she sure was skating right out of chores. And that was beginning to get old, fast.

Torene thanked Rementh for the news directly, and added that the food would be up directly, which startled the dragon momentarily until she remembered that Torene had spoken to her on any number of occasions. During Thread practices. In greeting upon passing. And every time, Torene was pleasant. Every time. Except the time of the dragon deaths. Then she was crying. But she was never like Julie seemed to be all the time…

Torene had always been gentle and kind to Rementh, the same way she was with everyone to whom she spoke. Rementh remembered the day of her 3rd clutching when Torene had gotten angry with Julie because Julie had been so disparaging about the number and size of Rementh's clutch with Dagmath. Torene's tone on that day had been gentle yet sad to Rementh about her 'accomplishment,' even though Rementh had figured out since then why Julie had been so upset.

Again, Rementh had a little twinge of guilt because of what she felt about Torene, and the way she was beginning to feel about Julie.

_Why are you so polite to everyone?_ Julie asked her dragon.

_Why not?_ Rementh responded, pulling herself out of the past.

_Well, it doesn't get you anywhere!_ Julie said huffily.

_It does no harm for me to be polite to people. I am polite to you, too, you know._ Her dragon responded.

_You are? I hadn't noticed._ Julie said airily, getting up from Rementh's weyr and padding across to her quarters, the red blanket trailing after her as she held it to her breasts.

The blanket slid to the floor in a puddle of fleecy red as she reached for her robe that she had tossed onto the sofa in her living quarters when she had come running in from the ledge.

The doorway partition was swept aside by a hastily moving body, backside first. The overladen tray nearly slipped from the grasp of the slight weyrling who was trying to manage without help.

"Here we go, here we go! I have your food! I hope I'm not late!" He stopped dead at the sight that greeted him. Julie, robe sleeve on one arm while the other arm stretched up behind her to slip the robe onto her shoulders and her arm into the other sleeve.

Julie started to erupt in anger, when her dragon took matters out of her hands.

_Thank you, young dragon rider!_ Rementh spoke in the boy's head, for he was little more than that. _Please set the tray on the table near the entryway. Then you may go._

Having to turn back around to place the tray on the table, the boy broke off his stare. He had turned bright red with embarrassment and did not even realize that it was the dragon and not the human who had spoken to him, let alone that it was not verbal.

He set the tray down and bolted out the partition without ever turning back around to face Julie.

Julie turned slowly to face her dragon. Anger in every line of her and her eyes snapping with fire.

"Why did you interfere with that little twit and me?" Julie asked Rementh haughtily.

_You would have been rude to him, and not a bit gracious about his getting our food here so very quickly_, Rementh noted. _Did you not realize how afraid he was of you? You have a very harsh reputation among people everywhere._

"But he saw me NAKED!" Julie cried out in anger.

_He will not remember that_, her dragon dismissed that little bit of news, _what he _will_ remember is that you were _nice_ to him!_

"That wasn't me! That was YOU!"

_He will only recall it as a conversation with you_, her dragon replied.

"Why?" Julie asked, anger shading her words, "Why do you care?"

_Because, if you are going to continue to live in this weyr, in this place, you _must_ be more amendable._ Was the surprising answer from her dragon.

"Why?" Julie asked again, then what her dragon had said sank in, "What do you mean 'live here'?"

_I am telling you that for you to continue to live with these people, you will become more like me. Or we will leave this place._ Was the surprising answer from her beloved golden dragon.

"Leave?" Julie asked. "Move elsewhere? Why would I do that when I have everything the way I want it right here?"

_Because _I _will leave. _Her dragon spoke unequivocally_. I will not burden this place with our presence if you will not make a diligent effort to be more like…more likable, more amendable, more pleasant to be around. Less likely to be treated like you were by those…riders today_. Rementh refused to call them dragonriders. _You will no longer order these people around. _And_ you will do your share of the chores. Starting tomorrow. Or I will leave this place the day following_.

Julie's eyes went wide. She felt an edging of fear in her gut. She felt there was an underlying meaning to her dragon's term 'this place.' She felt there was an underlying threat from her dragon to remove her from 'this place' if she did not change her selfish ways.

She sat down slowly and carefully on the bed. She did not, for some reason, want to move quickly or draw attention to herself. She wanted to remain still and silent as if being still and silent her dragon would forget what she had just said to her.

Both were quiet for some time, food forgotten. Rementh turned around in her weyr and got comfortable, settling herself for a nap, her conscience clear.

Rementh had heard Torene talking to herself. Dragons heard whomever they wanted to hear, and Rementh liked listening to Torene and Mihall. Especially Torene. She now realized that by her, Rementh, taking Julie out of the everyday workings of the weyr, she had created a hardship for others who lived here. She had thought she was making their lives less tedious by taking Julie's acerbic selfish person out of the equation. But she had made it harder, because the chores were spread out over fewer people. So, she made new plans. She would reorient Julie to be more like Torene, or they would leave. She just didn't say _like Torene_, which she almost had earlier. She had to be more mindful.

Julie waited until Rementh was quiet, then she slipped into bed, putting out the light near her. Even though it was still light outside, it was shadowy in the bedchamber. Julie lay quietly but her thoughts were racing around in her head, little knowing they were all leaking over to Rementh.

What exactly had her dragon meant? Was she a prisoner of her own dragon? Did she dare bring someone in on this situation? Or did she take it at face value and _know_ that her dragon would leave her if she didn't begin to behave circumspectly? Would Rementh really risk their sanity?

I mean, look at Nora! Julie thought. She's nearly a vegetable because her dragon _died! _ Would that happen to me if my dragon merely _left_ me? Julie was getting frazzled just thinking about it.

Bottom line, Julie thought, I better shape up! I do NOT want to be without my golden dragon! I would be NOTHING if I lost my golden dragon!

Rementh nearly chuckled out loud. It was working. Julie was still more concerned about what would happen to herself, but Julie was beginning to see that _she_ was the unreasonable one! She, Julie, was the one who had to _shape up_.


	19. For the Love of Dragons

For the Love of Dragons

Beralas awoke with a start, sat up and gazed about with wide eyes in the shadowy bedchamber. Her mind went searching and ah!

"_You are awake_," Magath whispered.

"_Are we in Jess' quarters again?"_ Beralas asked her weyrmate.

"_Yes_," Magath moved very little, if at all, "_Hallath is still sleeping. Jess went out earlier."_

"_I am awake, little one," _said the big bronze_. "It is time for us to discuss living arrangements."_

"_Living arrangements?" _Beralas asked_._

"_Yes, Beralas, living arrangements. Jess has deep feelings for you," _the bronze dragon continued_, "Not dragon lust feelings. Queen-Mother-for-her-hatching feelings. He wants to provide for you and your children. He wants to assure your health and happiness as you bring L'ren's children into this world. He wants to be a father figure for you, giving you assistance with the babies and time to heal."_

This was the most she had ever heard a dragon's voice in her head, and it wasn't even _her_ dragon! She felt around in her mind for Magath again, and-wait, what?

"Children?" she queried aloud and to both dragons. "Hallath, I can only have one child from L'ren." She choked a little and swallowed a sob. Determined to continue this unique, startling conversation with Jess' dragon.

"_Beralas, you carry two small babies from L'ren's seed"_ Hallath stated_, "If you do not believe me, ask the one called Greta."_

Beralas sat, stunned and immobile. Twins. Was it possible? She had dreamed of more than one child with L'ren, but that was with the man at her side and in the normal one-at-a-time scenario. And although she loved the idea of twins, how was she to support herself and twins? How could she provide care for twins when she was flying Thread? How could she, in all good conscience, now bring twins into the world without their father taking on half of the care, feeding and chores of twins?

She didn't realize tears were streaming down her face and falling into her clenched hands. She didn't realize Jess had come in and put something on the table in front of her unseeing eyes.

"Beralas," Jess said gently, quietly. Sure that she was totally unaware of his presence, he didn't want to startle her. He went around the table, sat down next to her, and took one of her clenched hands in his work calloused hand and gently began to stroke it.

"Beralas, honey," Jess said again.

Beralas' eyes lifted to his and his gut wrenched when he saw the desolation in her eyes. Again. He thought that she had been coming out from under the crushing weight of the loss of her lover.

"Beralas," he said again, knowing he was getting closer to having her full attention, "Beralas, I got a transfer for us. We can go to Telgar Weyr if you want. Or in you want warmer weather, we can go to Big Island.." his voice trailed off as he continued to look at the young woman.

Very quietly she asked, "Did you know that L'ren gave me twins?" It's like she hadn't heard Jess' news at all.

"Twins?" Jess queried, 'Twins, that's awesome, honey!"

"Awesome? More like awful!" Beralas broke down crying again, "How… am I…supposed…to take care…of one child…much less TWO? She wailed between sobs.

Jess let go of her hand and engulfed the woman-child in his bear-hug embrace.

"No," Jess said firmly, "This is Great news! It's great! You are a _dragonrider_ and in the weyr, dragonrider mothers get all sorts of help because we dragonriders protect Pern from "Thread." We would be welcome wherever we go!"

Beralas was looking at Jess with confused consternation. Jess stopped talking. Maybe he had misread Beralas' feelings for him. He knew that her own father was a ne'er-do-well. Had thrown her out of the Hold when she got Searched and approved to stand on the hatching grounds of Faranth's fourth clutch.

From her own mouth, she told her group of friends—L'ren, R'bert, Jess, Gentelly, and Regent—about how she had been forced to come to the Weyr earlier than the Weyrleaders had expected because she had no other place to stay before the hatching.

The entire Weyr had been extremely welcoming. She'd made plenty of friends before she had even met L'ren. But…did she want to stay here? A constant reminder of her beloved in every corner of the Weyr?

"Going to a new Weyr would be difficult at first," Jess said, "It'll be different than when we came to Benden. We already knew everyone, but we'll know most of the people at any other weyr anyway, because we knew them all from Fort first."

"I think," she said hesitantly as she looked up at him, her eyes full of tears, but under control, "I think I'd like to be warmer. I'll go to Big Island."

"Beralas, _we_ will go to Big Island," Jess said emphatically, "You aren't going to run off with my grandchildren _that_ easily!" He chuckled, and watched as what he had said sank into her consciousness.

"You will? You'll come with me?" Beralas squealed and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Of course I will! I've been trying to tell you all along that you'll have help, that you won't be alone. Honey, you just haven't been able to listen, have you? We have the approval of B'tol and Loratta of Big Island. And Torene and Mihall have wished us well and given us their blessing," Jess said, "I have also been talking to a few other people who have been wanting or needing a change. I have Weyrwoman Loratta's request to bring more craftspeople and support staff when we relocate." Jess stopped for air. This was the most he had spoken all at once in quite some time. They both settled back into their chairs.

Jess and Beralas stared off into the distance, thinking of all the new things that awaited them at Big Island, "I sure hope we can convince them to change the name," Beralas commented, "'Big Island' seems rather simple and dull."

Jess laughed, "I was thinking the same thing. Great minds must think alike because B'tol and Loratta want to change is to "Ista."

"Oh, that's very pretty," Beralas said, "Let's get started right away okay? I want to help as much as I can before I get heavy. But first, I really ought to check with Greta to see if I'm really carrying twins like your dragon says I am!"

"_My _dragon!" Jess exclaimed, "What's my dragon got to do with this?

"Everything!" Beralas caroled out, and leaped to her feet and danced around the room, "He's the one who told me!"

Jess sat down with a grunt, a confused look on his face, and asked Hallath to explain.

_I told her she was carrying twins_, Hallath said, _somehow, I know._

Jess just stared at his dragon through the opening into the dragon's weyr.

0101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101001001010101010

Nora was sitting at an early lunch with her complement of friends around her. She was feeling sad again. Not as heavily sad as before. But cold and lacking feeling of anything, try as she would to bring the warmth of life back into her limbs, she was still struggling with that feeling of blankness. The heavy blackness was fading a bit, but still nagged around the edges.

She looked across at Torene, and Torene seemed to know the instant she locked eyes with Nora that the girl was facing that thought again, that thought of being "dragonless." Torene got to her feet and quickly went around the table to where Nora sat. She slid into the space next to Nora and took the slightly shivering girl into her embrace, straddling the bench. She spoke to Alaranth, too, who passed the message to all dragons.

"Norabeth," Torene said slowly, waiting for her warmth to envelope the former queenrider. She turned her head, looked at Mihall and all the latent love for her husband welled up in her eyes. He stared at her a moment, watched her slightly tip her head towards Nora and he got up and went around the table and straddled the bench behind Torene, slid his arms around his wife and Nora and hugged them both close.

"Nora," Torene said again, "do you feel those beating hearts around you, my dear friend? Do you feel those other arms around you?" She watched as Kristo lifted a leg over the bench and snugged up next to his beloved and wrapped her in his arms from her other side, and slightly nodded.

Uloa and T'mas came and knelt beside her seat and hugged the girl around the waist. Jess and Beralas slid their hands across the table to Nora's arms and added their warmth to the others.

Nora felt gentle pressure and warmth on all sides. Warmth filled all the frigid places left behind when her beloved Tenneth had died. Finding the warmth seemed to be getting easier, yet all the time she seemed to be filled with dread and cold.

"Dear heart, there are more of us here than can be seen. Can you feel the affection of all the dragons of Pern?" And with that sentence, Norabeth felt a flooding of warm, gentle thoughts spilling into her head from around Pern. Each one separate, yet not a cacophony, merely a steady, gentle flow of warmth moving into her bones.

She lifted her head, tears finally not falling for the first time in a long time. The cold receding even more. The blank wall of nothingness lessening, and lessening again.

Right then, Torene decided that Nora and Kristo should go with Beralas and Jess to Big Island. There were still fire lizards there and it was not a huge leap to think a fire lizard or two might help her friend feel a little more whole. Her mind ran quickly through the people who populated the newest weyr. She might just have some addition people whom she would get in place to help Nora overcome this. Torene asked Alaranth to tell Hallath to ask Jess if he knew who had fire lizards at Big Island.

Jess' eyes lost focus a second and then his eyes sought out Torene's. He got up, helped Beralas to her feet and the pair settled at the table close to Torene. Uloa and T'mas eased off their knees and settled next to Nora and Kristo, who had their backs to the couple.

"I believe Donita's young son, Trevane, has a queen, with a bronze from another hatching," Jess said quietly, "and from what Weyrleader B'tol said, the little gold is about ready to rise again." Here he stopped and studied the back of Torene's head for a moment.

Torene gave Nora another hug, which was returned, and Torene leaned her friend back against her husband-to-be, stood up and looked down at the pair. Nora looked very comfortable now in Kristo's arms, relaxed and happier and with a small smile on her face. Torene nodded as if to herself. She turned and faced Mihall, who had merely leaned back when his wife had stood up. She kissed him lightly on the forehead and stepped around him to settle next to Jess. Mihall nodded to Nora, then swung his leg over the bench, picked up his cup of klah and continued to watch his wife.

A slow smile began to take shape on his face as Jess guessed what Torene was about, and Torene smiled in return. Beralas looked from one to the other, baffled momentarily. Then she smiled too.

"Would you like me to ask Nora if she would like to 'escape' Benden with us and settle on Big Island? Beralas asked quietly.

Torene nodded. This girl was quick, Torene thought approvingly, too bad she didn't have a queen.

Beralas' eyes shown with excitement. She'd have lots of new friends at Big Island. She hoped the Big Islander people would appreciate and adopt "Ista." Of course, she mused, they could always call the weyr Ista.

There was a general breaking up of the group, then Torene stood up, checked Nora's expression one more time, nodded to her, leaned down and kissed Mihall again, like she just couldn't resist, then turned to head towards the other side of Benden through the depths of the cavern. Beralas fell in next to her. Torene glanced over at her and Beralas smiled widely.

"I think we might both be going to the same person to get exceedingly exciting news," Beralas said, glancing over at Torene.

"Really?" Torene stopped and looked fully at Beralas. "We know your good news, don't we?"

Beralas shook her head, eyes dancing with excitement, "Hallath, Jess' dragon told me I am carrying twins! Greta is just going to verify it for me!" A great smile lit her face again. She had started to move on.

Torene didn't budge.

"_Hallath_," Torene said slowly, "_Hallath_ says you're carrying twins?"

Beralas stopped and turned back to Torene.

"Yes," she said quietly, "I know. How does a dragon know? Much less a _male_ dragon?"

Torene studied on those two questions a moment. How _would_ a dragon know? The fire lizards knew when babies were about to be born, that was a well-known fact. Alaranth had known when she, Torene, was about to give birth. Again, the mechanics of it escaped humans, but it was fact.

_Alaranth?_ Torene queried her dragon.

_Yes_, Alaranth answered her unspoken question, _I knew you had a boy-child coming. I thought you knew. If I had known you did not know, I would have told you. Just as I am now telling you that you have a girl-child growing and Beralas has one boy, one girl. May I continue my sun bathing now?_ Alaranth asked plaintively.

Torene felt for a nearby chair and plunked herself down onto it.

Beralas stopped and settled into the chair next to her.

"See? Your dragon just told you, didn't she!" Beralas queried, "Isn't it amazing?" the girl bubbled, eyes shining and bouncing a little in her seat, "I'm going to have a boy and a girl whose daddy is my sweet Loren!" Beralas slowly settled completely back into her seat and turned to Torene.

"I hope they both look like L'ren," Beralas said.

"I think," Torene said, "you will love them whether they look like L'ren or they look like their grandparents or look like you! You'll love them because they are the essence of the love you share with L'ren."

"You're right," Beralas said. She got to her feet and held out her hands to Torene.

"Let's go confirm all this good news!" The younger woman pulled Torene to her feet and the two of them took off running like kids to the dispensary.

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Julie had awoken miserable. Rementh could feel her rider's malaise from where she rested in her weyr. She rightfully guessed that the woman had spent a restless, sleepless night worrying about all that she had learned from her dragon.

"Rementh," Julie whispered in her own mind, "I know changes were supposed to take place this morning, but I feel awful. Can we please postpone the chores until later today?"

Rementh looked at her rider through the partition, heaved a sigh, slowly closed her eyes and went back to sleep, allowing her rider to do the same. There would be time enough when Julie was feeling better.

When Julie awakened later that morning, she could tell by the placement of the sun that she'd had a reprieve and it was nearing lunch time. She stretched carefully, sure that she was going to be sore all over from the 'mating chamber under the trees,' but surprisingly, there wasn't much soreness, only in one spot where a rock must have dug into the back of her thigh.

She slid out from under the covers, padded over to the wash basin

and dipped a fresh cloth into the chilly water. She wiped her face and hands and slipped into her clothes.

Julie looked into the weyr and found that her beautiful golden dragon was gone, and she couldn't help it, she sighed in relief.

Thinking she would get the jump on her dragon, she left her quarters and went down into the dining area of the big old volcano. She peeked into the dining room, and heaved a sigh of relief. It was early yet, and the meal was still in preparation stage.

She found Tarrie in the midst of cutting up meat for stew and presented herself in front of the other woman with a small salute.

Tarrie looked at Julie for a full count of 5, then asked, "What can I get for you today, Queenrider Julie?" Tarrie said in her best 'polite speak.'

"Oh. Nothing. No, I'm here to help," Julie said quietly. She was not about to admit that her dragon forced her to be here. She'd be the butt of jokes from now until eternity. No, she decided to just play it low-key, like she was feeling bad about not helping out.

"I, uh, I've just been feeling pretty low, not helping out n' all," Julie said, eyes downcast and nearly mumbling.

Tarrie's left eyebrow went up and her whole demeanor never changed, but inside she was chortling. _Julie? Feeling low for not helping out? What was she playing at?_

"So, you want to help? And you aren't going to throw a fit when I tell you that we need a whole mess of greens cleaned for today's salad and side dish?" Tarrie asked. Tarrie knew that handling greens was Julie's least favorite task, but that was also the task with which Tarrie needed the most help. So, she didn't hesitate foisting it upon the woman who had been missing from the kitchen for so long.

"No," Julie said, meekly, although she was seething inside. She kept her head down so her eyes wouldn't give her away. _Damn her anyway, _she thought_, she knows I hate greens, I could just scream! Greens in-_

_A more pleasant attitude will make the task at hand more pleasant_ Rementh said to her rider. _This has to be genuine or my promise to leave this place will still be carried out._

Julie jerked in surprise_. You startled me! _Julie admonished her dragon, although her tone was much more pleasant than those of a moment ago,_ I was just taken by surprise! _Julie tried to explain to her dragon.

Rementh rumbled deep in her chest. She knew her rider was dissembling. She said nothing more and Julie was startled back to the present when Tarrie cleared her throat. Tarrie knew by Julie's preoccupation that Julie was conversing with her dragon. Tarrie was extremely curious as to what about.

"I've got greens that need cleaning, or if you want to do the desserts, I have pumpkin pudding and butterscotch milk bread that need preparing," Tarrie said, allowing herself to be a little generous.

At this point, Rementh did not care if her rider did the desserts or the greens, although to her, greens seemed useless. Julie latched onto the desserts like a drowning man clutches a life preserver.

"Are the pans, milk, staples and extracts in their usual places?" Julie asked Tarrie.

"Yes, Julie, they are," Tarrie said, turning back to her meat cutting.

Julie ran down the stairs to the cold storage and gathered up a flagon of milk, the round container of raw, nearly frozen pumpkin, the butter container, the sweetening and the flour canisters. Back upstairs, she searched out the pans she wanted, the bowls for mixing and the utensils she would need for whipping the pudding and making the butterscotch bread.

Makayla came in from the dining cavern where she had been sorting the clean utensils into piles on clean linen for the people that would be coming to lunch. She stopped dead when she saw Julie and her eyes grew wide as they found her mother. Deboreen had come in from the other direction, saw Julie working, and glanced at Tarrie, who shrugged. She simply shook her head at her daughter and with a small gesture of her hand, invited Makayla to come to her side.

Makayla looked up at her mother, saw the serene smile on her face and relaxed. She knew her mother had seen Julie, and that everything was okay as far as she was concerned.

Without any instruction, fuss or talk, Makayla picked up the huge bundle of greens that was nearly as big as she was and carried them over to the huge basin that had been put together nearly seamlessly by the stone workers. She carefully opened up the spigot a little and let the water splash gently over the greens as she sorted through them. She placed the light green and succulent ones on a small tray; the longer, darker greens on a bigger tray and the wilted ones she put in a tub to be taken to the pigs later.

The work in the kitchen cavern went on industriously for quite some time. Tarrie finished the stew and hung the caldron over the hearth fire with the help of an elderly gentleman who helped with all the chores he could in the weyr. Makayla and Deboreen converged in the kitchen from different areas of the preparation area. Makayla had the two trays full of greens ready for the buffet table and her mother brought the containers of milk, cheeses, butter and soured creams on a huge tray up from the cold room. Everything for the noon meal was dovetailing nicely.

They glanced around and saw Tarrie leaving the work table where Julie was still working and at her small gesture towards the ovens, divined that Julie had gotten the butterscotch bread into the ovens. They met at the top of the stairs to the cold room and were far enough away from Julie for Tarrie to speak without fear of being heard.

"Julie has done the desserts for supper tonight, but in reverse order so the pudding will take a while to set up," Tarrie said, "could you please put them in the coldest part of the room so they will be done in time?"

"Yes," Deboreen said, taking Makayla's hand and going down the stairs.

"Mama," Makayla asked quietly, as though fearful of being heard herself, "Is the dragonlady going to be working with us every day again?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, I don't know," her mother said with a smile, "but we will be polite and friendly until she isn't, okay? Then we will see what happens."

The little girl watched her mother move the pans of pudding into the deeper cold of the permafrost of the mountain. She looked up trustingly at her mother, "Okay." Then they retraced their steps to the main floor and watched as the dragonriders came in.

Torene and Uloa came into the dining area from practice, slapping their gloves free of dirt, shaking their hair out after removing their helmets and reaching down and slapping the dirt from their boots with their gloves. Mihall and T'mas were right behind them and nearly blundered into them when the two women stopped abruptly. Looking over their beloveds' heads, they saw Julie working industriously at something at a prep table.

Torene and Uloa looked at Tarrie, who shrugged and gestured toward the serving area. Telling them in shrugs and gestures that she knew nothing except what was in front of them all. Julie was here. Julie was helping. That's all anyone knew.

The four went to the washing area and took care of hands and faces, gathered up plates, bowls, utensils. They slid these onto a tray and Torene dished up the hearty stew while the men gathered bread and drinks. Uloa had gone to the other side of the hearth and picked up the sweets that were on the table there, then they all settled down at a table with Beralas, Jess, Greta and Bichárd D'Amato. All four nodded to the other four and exchanged greetings.

"What's with Julie," Greta whispered to Torene. Torene shrugged eloquently and nodded toward Tarrie.

"Tarrie might be the better one to ask," Torene said very quietly, although they were nearly an entire hall away from Julie.

Greta and Beralas had glanced at the queenrider and given her no more attention, fearing that the weight of their looks might draw Julie's attention to them. Which was the last thing they wanted.

More and more riders and weyr folk came in from out of doors, cleaned up, picked up their lunches and settled down at tables to sink into the sumptuous stew. Tarrie was a great cook and they all looked forward to her stews. No one said a word to Julie, most of them missed the diminutive queen rider altogether, and those that didn't, were not about to incur her wrath by speaking to her.

Which ended up making her feel very uncomfortable. _Why aren't they saying anything? Can't they even be civil and acknowledge me? _ she asked herself. _Why are they ignoring me? Don't they see me here, working hard at making their dessert for tonight?_

She was just starting to work herself up into a rage when Rementh asked quietly, _As oft as you were angry, do you not see why they are trepidatious to break their silence?_

_NO! _Julie started to fume,_ I was never so angry that I couldn't be compl-_

_Oh yes but you were, _her golden dragon growled in response. Julie quieted immediately. She had seldom heard her dragon growl, let alone at her!

"I want to thank you, Julie," Tarrie said from behind her. Julie whirled around, surprise in every line of her, her eyes wide, her lips trembling.

"Wha-what?" Julie asked quaveringly, still shaken by her dragon's tone.

Tarrie looked at her speculatively a moment, "I want to thank you, Julie. You haven't lost your touch with desserts. This looks absolutely wonderful." Tarrie was unstinting in her praise. It occurred to her that Julie had been jumpy the whole time she was working on the two desserts. And the only reason someone would be so jumpy was if they were preoccupied. There had been no one near the woman all the time she had been down here. This told Tarrie that Julie's golden dragon Rementh was somehow responsible for her preoccupation. Which, to say the least, was definitely different.

Tarrie continued to look at the ill at ease Julie, made up her mind and asked, "Are you staying for lunch or do you have to be somewhere? Because if you were going to stay for lunch, I'd be happy to join you. It's been awhile," Tarrie said pleasantly, "we could catch up on news and such."

Julie looked up at Tarrie with something akin to astonishment, "You'd sit and eat lunch with me?" Julie asked incredulously.

"Sure," Tarrie said with a smile, "You were insufferable, Julie, not contagious." Tarrie kept the smile on her face when she said this, wanting to see how Julie would take the ribbing.

She saw Julie's head come up, and a flash went across her face, but it was immediately banished. Julie smiled meekly herself and said, "Yes, I guess I had been pretty rude at times, huh." Tarrie nearly choked. _Sometimes!_

"Yeah, you could say that," Tarrie said ruefully. "Here, let me get us bowls and such."

"Okay," Julie said, "I'll get drinks and bread. And we can sit over there." She purposefully chose a place a little apart from the others.

"That's good. Is it okay if Boris joins us shortly?" Tarrie asked hopefully.

Julie thought about that for a moment. She had company for lunch, so she wasn't having to sit alone. She could afford to be nice. "Sure," she said, "B'ris can join us for lunch if he wants."


End file.
